HANDWORK     AS     AN 
EDUCATIONAL   MEDIUM 


HANDWORK  AS  AN 
EDUCATIONAL 

MEDIUM  By  PHILIP  BOSWOOD 
BALLARD,  M.A.,  D.Lit.  (Lond.)  Author 
of  "Obliviscence  and  Reminiscence" 


NEW  YORK  :   THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  LTD. 
LONDON :  GEORGE  ALLEN  &  UNWIN  LTD. 

1915 

[All  rights  reserved] 


PREFACE   TO    THE    SECOND    EDITION 

THOSE  who  are  familiar  with  the  first  edition 
of  this  book  will  have  some  difficulty  in  recog- 
nizing it  in  its  new  guise.  Indeed  it  is  only 
by  putting  a  violent  strain  ,on  the  notion  of 
identity  that  it  can  be  called  the  same  book. 
The  essays  not  strictly  bearing  on  handwork 
have  been  omitted  ;  the  other  essays  have  been 
cut  down,  rewritten  and  rearranged  ;  and  at 
least  one-half  of  the  subject-matter  is  entirely 
new.  So  drastic  a  treatment  of  a  book  which 
has  found  some  favour  with  the  public  calls 
for  explanation.  It  lies  in  the  change  that  has 
taken  place  during  recent  years  jn  professional 
opinion  and  practice.  The  first  edition  has  in 
fact  virtually  served  its  purpose,  consisting  as 
it  mainly  did  of  lectures  delivered  when  the 
need  for  convincing  teachers  of  the  educational 
value  of  handwork  was  much  ^greater  than  it  is 
now.  Now  the  profession  may  be  said  to  be 
converted,  and  the  laity  almost  persuaded.  And 
what  with  the  attack  of  the  Froebelians  and 
Montessorians  on  the  early  part  of  the  school 

331079 


6        HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL   MEDIUM 

curriculum  ;  of  those  who  fight  under  the  Voca- 
tional flag  on  the  later  part  of  the  curriculum  ; 
and  of  a  number  of  guerilla  fighters  on  the 
defenceless  middle,  there  is  at  present  little 
danger  of  the  claims  of  handwork  being 
ignored  in  the  school.  What  is  urgently  needed 
now  is  a  critical  treatment  of  the  subject.  We 
want  to  know  where  handwork  fails  as  well 
as  where  it  succeeds.  And  we  want  to  know 
why.  To  meet  some  of  ,  these  needs  this  new 
edition  is  issued.  An  attempt  is  made  to  dis- 
cover and  to  discuss  the  fundamental  principles 
upon  which  the  claims  of  handwork  rest  ;  and 
the  language  of  the  lecture,  which  was  so  evident 
in  the  first  edition,  has  largely  given  way  to  a 
style  which  savours  more  of  the  study  than  of 
the  platform.  Although  this  change  of  style 
will  unquestionably  render  the  book  less  inter- 
esting to  the  general  reader,  it  will,  it  is  hoped, 
make  it  more  valuable  to  the  student.  It  is 
hoped,  too,  that  the  new  edition  will  prove 
of  greater  service  to  the  teacher  ;  for  most  of 
the  new  material  has  to  do  with  the  method  of 
teaching  handwork.  Indeed  the  writer  regards 
the  strictly  pedagogical  parts  of  the  book  as 
considerably  the  most  important,  for  he  holds 
that  not  all  forms  of  motor  activities  assist 
mental  development.  Except  perhaps  in  the 
first  few  years  of  a  child's  life,  and  in  the  early 
stages  of  the  education  of  the  feeible-minded, 


PREFACE  TO   THE  SECOND  EDITION  7 

we  have  no  reason  for  believing  that  rriotor 
activities  pure  and  simple — motor  activities 
stripped  of  all  accompanying  thought ,  processes 
— have  any  influence  upon  the  ,  growth  of  the 
mind.  They  may  have,  but  there  is  no  evidence 
that  they  have.  There  is,  on  the  other  hand, 
abundant  evidence  that  where  bodily  activities — 
manual  occupation  in  particular — are  so-  chosen 
and  so  taught  as  to  stimulate  and  compel  thought 
on  the  part  of  the  pupil,  they  become  a  potent 
means  of  mental  culture.  The  hand  can  demon- 
strably  be  used  as  an  instrument  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  head  and  the  heart.  That  being  so, 
the  problem  of  teaching  handwork  so  as  to 
make  its  intellectual  and  aesthetic  concomitants 
as  rich  and  varied  as  possible,  is  supremely  im- 
portant, and  has  much  space  devoted  to  its 
discussion  in  this  book. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  John  Nickal  and 
Dr.  E.  O.  Lewis  for  reading  certain  parts 
of  the  manuscript  and  making  valuable  sugges- 
tions, and  to  Mr.  E.  J.  Kenny  for  correcting  the 
proofs. 

P.   B.   BALLARD. 

DULWICH, 

February  1915. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION  .  .  .  .  .  .II 

BIOLOGICAL  CONSIDERATIONS  .  .  •  .      1 6 

SENSORI-MOTOR   REACTION    .  .  .  .  .      25 

CONSIDERATIONS   MORE  STRICTLY   PSYCHICAL        .  .      32 

THE  NATURE  AND  ROLE  OF  MOTOR   IMAGERY       .  .      43 

THE  MOTOR   FACTOR   IN  EMOTION   AND  VOLITION  .      58 

THE    RELATION    BETWEEN    MOTOR    DEVELOPMENT     AND 

MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT  .  .  .66 

FUNDAMENTAL  AND  ACCESSORY  MUSCLES  .  .      86 

PLAY  AND  WORK          .  .  .  .  .  .88 

HANDWORK      AS      AN       EDUCATIVE      FORM     OF     MOTOR 

ACTIVITY  .  .  .  .  .  .  .95 

THE    DEFENCE    OF    HANDWORK    REGARDED    AS    AN    IN- 
DIRECT   MEANS  OF   EDUCATION  .  .  ,122 

HANDWORK  AND   BOOKWORK  .  .  .  .126 

THE  SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  MANUAL  TRAINING  .  .13! 

AMBIDEXTERITY  ......    135 


io  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PEDAGOGICAL  APPLICATIONS  .  •  •  .   I?6 

IS  HANDWORK  A  SUBJECT  OR  A  METHOD  ?  .  .    l8l 

SHOULD      THE      DEVELOPMENT      OF       SUBJECT-MATTER 
FOLLOW     THE     LOGICAL     OR    THE    PSYCHOLOGICAL 
ORDER  ?    .  .  .  .  .  .  .    184 

THE  PLACE  OF  DRILLS   IN  MANUAL  EDUCATION   .  .    193 

DIRECTED  HANDWORK  AND   ORIGINAL  HANDWORK  .   213 

RESUME  .......   2l8 

INDEX  .  .  .  .  .  .  .225 


HANDWORK    AS    AN 
EDUCATIONAL   MEDIUM 

INTRODUCTION 

THE  most  noticeable,  and  probably  the  most 
significant,  change  that  has  taken  place  in  edu- 
cational practice  during  recent  years  has  been 
the  increased  attention  paid  to  practical  work. 
Not  only  are  subjects  which  were  previously 
taught  orally  and  abstractly  (such  as  Nature 
Study,  Science,  Geography,  and  Mathematics) 
now  being  largely  taught  by  means  of  practical 
manipulation  of  the  material  on  the  part  of  the 
pupils,  but  special  exercises  have  been  intro- 
duced under  the  name  of  Handwork,  Hand  and 
Eye  Training,  and  so  forth,  with  the  avowed 
view  of  increasing  the  cultural  value  of  the 
curriculum. 

The  most  striking  characteristic  of  a  small 
boy  in  good  health  is  that  he  is  always  on  the 
move.  This  physical  restlessness  could  not  have 
escaped  the  notice  of  even  the  most  casual 
observer,  but  until  recent  years  little  significance 
was  attached  to  it.  Most  people  were  wont  to 
regard  it  as  one  of  the  inevitable  nuisances  of 
life  ;  there  were  many  who  thought  it  had 


12      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

something  to  do  with  original  sin  ;  there  were 
but  few  who  suspected  that  it  had  any  bearing 
upon  the  gradual  deyelopment  of  thinking  power. 
Yet  the  on6  saifenf  and  indisputable  fact  stand- 
ing fortl}  out  .of;  the  Belter  of  detail  supplied  us 
in  the  numerous :  modern  books  on  child  study  is 
that  the  movements  of  the  young  child  are  in 
some  way,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  connected 
with  his  mental  growth.  As  his  movements 
become  more  complex  his  mental  processes  be- 
come more  clear  and  definite.  Indeed,  the 
movements  of  his  body  seem  to  be  essential 
factors  in  the  development  of  his  mind. 

It  was  not  always  thought  so.  The  educa- 
tional value  of  bodily  activities  is  virtually  a 
discovery  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  is  true 
that  we  find  in  the  earlier  writers — notably  in 
Comenius — sporadic  references  to  educational 
handwork,  but  it  was  not  until  the  doctrine  of 
Rousseau  had  filtered  through  the  minds  of 
Pestalozzi  and  Froebel,  who  early  in  the  cen- 
tury clearly  formulated  the  doctrine  that  the 
child  learns  by  doing,  that  the  principles  of  motor 
activity  obtained  sufficient  recognition  to  affect 
professional  practice  ;  and  it  was  not  until  near 
the  close  of  the  century  that  an  attempt  was 
made  to  give  them  some  sort  of  scientific  ju^tifi- 
cation.  The  popular  tendency  has  always  been 
to  identify  education  with  book-learning.  The 
man  in  the  street  thinks  of  a  school  as  a  place 
where  the  children  sit  perfectly  still — or  at  least 
ought  to  sit  perfectly  still — either  poring  over 
text -books  or  listening  to  the  learned  talk  of  a 


INTRODUCTION  13 

bald-headed  gentleman  in  spectacles.  The 
mother  thinks  that  when  her  little  girl  runs 
about  the  house  and  climbs  over  the  furniture 
she  is  very  naughty,  and  when  she  sits  still  she 
is  very  good.  The  father  thinks  that  when  his 
boy  is  making  a  rabbit-hutch  or  exploring  the 
neighbouring  woodland  he  is  wasting  his  time  ; 
but  when  he  sits  indoors  cramming  up  a  Latin 
Grammar  he  is  laying  the  foundation  of  a 
brilliant  future.  The  most  they  can  say  of  the 
boy  actively  engaged  in  games,  or  in  the  pursuit 
of  hobbies  in  the  open  air,  is  that  he  is  gaining 
health,  and  that  if  he  is  not  learning  he  is  at 
least  not  loafing.  The  whole  tendency  has  been 
to  associate  learning  with  sitting  still. 

The  doctor's  patients  have  a  much  stronger 
belief  in  the  efficacy  of  drugs  than  the  doctor 
himself,  and  the  average  parent  has  profounder 
confidence  in  the  educative  value  of  books  than 
the  teacher  himself.  And,  as  the  modern 
physician  tends  more  and  more  to  recognize 
that  it  is  Nature  that  cures,  so  does  the  modern 
educator  tend  more  and  rndre  to  recognize  that 
it  is  Nature  that  teaches  ;  that  learning  is  a 
spontaneous  process  which  no  lack  of  schooling 
can  stop,  and  no  extent  of  schooling  can  do 
more  than  modify.  The  study  of  this  process 
provides  the  soundest  basis  for  a  theory  of  edu- 
cation, and  of  this  process  muscular  activities 
are  inseverably  a  part. 

That  the  educational  significance  of  physical 
activities  in  the  young  should  have  escaped 
popular  notice  is  not  surprising  ;  but  that  it 


14      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

should  have  escaped  the  notice  of  the  psycho- 
logist  calls   for   comment.      The  older  psycho- 
logist confined  himself  almost  exclusively  to  one 
method — the    method    of     introspection.        He 
looked  into  his  own  mind  and  tried  to  describe 
what  he  found  there.     He  found  there  what  he 
looked  for — ideas  ;  and  he  tried  to  analyse  these 
ideas  into  elements  derived  from  the  five  senses. 
Volition,  which  seemed  to  consist  in  a  mysterious 
putting  forth  of  power  by  the  ego,  and  emotion 
with  its  vague  admixture  of  pleasure  and  pain, 
resisted  his  attempts   at  analysis.      The  conse- 
quence   of   this    method    was    that    he    always 
examined  the  mind  of  an  adult  and  never  the 
mind  of  a  child  ;    that  he  was  more  concerned 
with  mental  products  than  with  mental  growth  ; 
that    he    emphasized    the    intellectual   aspect   of 
the  mind  to   the  neglect   of  the  volitional  and 
emotional  ;    and  that   he  sought  no  help  from 
physiology.     In  his  search  for  ultimate  elements, 
and  his  desire  to  refer  those  elements  to  the  five 
senses  recognized  by  tradition,  it  will  readily  be 
seen  how  motor  or  kinaesthetic  sensations  were 
either   entirely   overlooked,   or  vaguely   referred 
to  the  sense  of  touch.     Their  intellectual  value 
was    completely    missed.      These   sensations    of 
movement,  it  will  be  observed,  are  not  always 
easy  to  detect.     As  soon  as  their  work  is  done, 
as  soon  as  they  have  fixed  a  habit,  they  descend 
to  the  region  of  the  subconscious.     To  discover 
them,  and  fully  realize  the  services  they  render, 
is  a  task  that  has  been  left  to  the  more  modern 
psychologist  ;    and  the   knowledge  thus   gained 


INTRODUCTION  15 

has  been  brought  to  bear  on  the  study  of  the 
child. 

So  important  have  the  movements  of  the  body 
come  to  be  regarded,  not  in  their  own  rights  but 
as  signs  and  symbols  of  the  activities  of  the 
mind,  that  recent  psychologists  tend  to  discard 
the  old  definition  of  psychology  as  the  science 
of  mental  processes,  and  to  define  it  simply 
as  the  science  of  behaviour.  To  inquire  into 
the  educational  significance  of  that  form  of 
behaviour  of  which  the  hand  is  the  instrument, 
and  of  motor  activities  in  general  in  so  far  as 
they  throw  light  on  manual  activities  in  par- 
ticular, is  the  main  object  of  this  book.  An 
attempt  will  be  made  to  arrive  at  general  prin- 
ciples and  to  apply  those  principles  to  the  solu- 
tion of  certain  practical  problems  which  press 
upon  our  attention  in  the  schools. 


BIOLOGICAL   CONSIDERATIONS 

THE  branch  of  Psychology  which  has  proved 
most  fruitful  for  educational  purposes  is  the 
Genetic.  Education  deals  essentially  with  de- 
velopment in  the  individual,  and  especially 
during  that  period  of  iminaturity  which  extends 
over  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  his  life. 
Comparative  methods  prove  expedient  ;  for  the 
study  of  the  activities  of  the  higher,  animals 
and  of  the  way  in  which  they  learn  throws  much 
light  upon  the  mental  development  of  the  child. 
The  fundamental  biological  concept  of  life  as 
consisting  in  the  adjustment  of  organism  to 
environment  is  essential  to  the  successful  appli- 
cation of  comparative  methods.  Despite  certain 
obvious  objections  to  the  full  acceptance  of  the 
Recapitulation  theory,  either  in  its  psycho-physi- 
cal or  its  "  culture-epoch  "  form,  it  is  now  almost 
universally  recognized  that  the  child  must,  in 
a  broad  and  general  sense,  recapitulate  the  im- 
portant experiences  of  the  race.  He  must  go 
through  in  brief  what  the  race  went  through  in 
extenso.  The  general  course  of  development 
is  the  same  in  both  cases.  Mankind  won  its 
way  from  savagery  to  civilization  by  constant 
struggle  and  strife.  Primitive  man  probably 

16 


BIOLOGICAL  CONSIDERATIONS  17 

indulged  in  but  little  speculative  thought  ;  he 
had  enough  to  do  to  keep  himself  alive,  and 
to  keep  himself  alive  his  muscles  were  indis- 
pensable. What  thinking  he  did  he  was  forced 
to  do.  A  certain  amount  of  intellectual  subtlety 
was  necessary  in  order  to  circumvent  his  nume- 
rous enemies,  both  animate  and  inanimate.  The 
best  thinker  was  the  best  dodger.  The  think- 
ing was  a  device  for  the  attainment  of  some 
practical  end — the  acquisition  of  food  or 
clothing,  the  construction  of  weapons,  of 
utensils,  or  of  the  means  of  shelter,  the 
securing  of  the  good-will  and  co-operation  of 
his  fellow-man.  It  was  only  during  compara- 
tively recent  times  that  it  became  possible  for 
man  to  lead  a  contemplative  life.  Education 
is  an  attempt  to  telescope  the  long  path  trodden 
by  the  race  into  the  short  period  of  a  boy's, 
school  life.  This  can  only  be  done  by  the 
omission  of  non-essentials.  On  this  view  motor 
activity  cannot  be  omitted,  for  it  seems  to  be 
the  most  essential  element  of  all. 

Equally  clear  and  authoritative  is  the  verdict 
of  the  physiologist.  Our  knowledge  of  the  brain 
and  its  functions,  though  still  very  imperfect, 
is  far  in  advance  of  what  it  was  fifty  years  ago. 
The  broad  outlines  at  least  are  known.  Early 
in  the  nineteenth  century  it  was  believed  by 
many  that  the  phrenologist  might  be  right.  Now 
it  is  known  that  he  must  be  wrong.  The 
phrenologist  maps  out  the  surface  of  the  skull 
into  small  plots  which  he  labels  with  long  names. 
If  a  man  has  a  bump  in  the  middle  of  his  fore- 

2 


i8     HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

head  he  is  possessed  of  a  mysterious  faculty 
called  Individuality.  If  a  bump  is  found  a  little 
higher  up  he  has  the  equally  mysterious  faculty 
of  Eventuality.  These  "  organs/'  as  they  are 
called,  are  somewhat  numerous,  and,  as  the 
accommodation  of  the  cranium  is  limited,  there 
is  serious  overcrowding  in  certain  parts — round 
the  eye,  for  instance.  The  phrenologist  assumes 
that  whenever  there  is  a  bulge  on  the  skull 
(unless  a  lack  of  symmetry  suggests  domestic 
trouble)  there  is  a  corresponding  bulge  on  the 
brain.  This  assumption  is  quite  unwarranted, 
for  the  skull  does  not  always  follow  the  contour 
of  the  brain.  Nor  does  a  big  head  necessarily 
mean  a  big  brain.  There  is  such  a  thing  as 
being  thick-skulled.  Moreover,  this  prepos- 
terous doctrine  of  faculties  is  in  violent  conflict 
with  the  most  elementary  principles  of  Psycho- 
logy. The  old  faculty -psychologist,  even  in  his 
wildest  moments,  never  split  up  the  soul  into 
departments  so  numerous,  so  independent,  and 
so  redundant.  They  are  neither  simple  nor  ulti- 
mate, and  their  functions  constantly  overlap. 
But  apart  from  its  psychological  absurdity  the 
phrenologist's  theory  is  finally  and  irrevocably 
exploded  by  the  discovery  of  the  true  localization, 
of  function  in  the  brain.  Broadly  speaking,  we 
know  now  how  the  brain  works,  to  what  degree 
it  specializes,  and  where  the  special  bits  of  work 
are  carried  on.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  there 
is  no  leaven  of  truth  in  phrenology.  There 
probably  is.  I  believe  it  possible  to  tell  a  man's 
character  from  the  shape  of  his  head  ;  but  I 


BIOLOGICAL  CONSIDERATIONS  19 

also  believe  it  possible  to  tell  his  character  from 
the  shape  of  his  nose,  or  his  thumb,  or  his  big 
toe.  And  it  is  possible  to  argue  that  the  brain 
has  as  much  to  do  with  it  in  one  case  as  the 
other,  and  no  more.1  The  brain  is  primarily 
an  instrument  for  moving  the  body.  It  moves 
it  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  it  out  of  danger 
—danger  arising  from  such  sources  as  starva- 
tion, disease  and  physical  violence.  To  carry 
on  this  work  the  brain  has  two  sets  of  servants, 
the  senses  and  the  muscles.  The  senses  are 
the  scouts  that  give  the  alarm,  and  the  muscles 
make  the  appropriate  change  in  the  position  of 
the  body.  The  messages  pass  along  the  nerves, 
and  the  current  always  goes  the  same  way — 
from  the  senses  to  the  muscles  via  the  lower 
centres  and  the  brain.  In  the  year  1861,  Broca, 
a  French  physiologist,  made  a  very  valuable 
discovery.  He  found  that  when  a  person  suffers 
from  motor  aphasia,  when,  that  is,  he  has  lost 
the  power  of  articulate  and  intelligible  speech, 
there  is  always  one  particular  part  of  the  brain 
that  has  suffered  injury — the  lowest  frontal 
gyrus.  The  injury  appears  on  the  left  hemi- 
sphere in  the  case  of  right-handed  people  and 
on  the  right  hemisphere  in  the  case  of  left- 
handed  people.  He  thought  he  had  discovered 
the  sole  and  entire  seat  of  speech  ;  what  he 
had  actually  discovered  was  the  speech  motor 
area — that  part  of  the  cortex  from  which  pass 

1  Dr.  Bernard  Hollander  makes  a  spirited  defence  of 
phrenology  in  his  book,  "The  Mental  Functions  of  the 
Brain."  He  contends  that  Gall  forestalled  Broca. 


20     HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

out  all  the  incitations  of  the  muscles  of  speech. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  a  long  series  of 
researches,  discoveries  and  discussions.  The 
researches  are  by  no  mfeans  complete,  and  the 
storm  of  discussion  still  rages  ;  but  there  are 
certain  facts  which  are  now  widely  accepted. 
One  of  these  well-established  facts  is  that 
specialized  areas  in  the  cortex  are  of  two  kinds, 
those  where  the  nerve -currents  run  in  and  those 
where  the  nerve -currents  finally  run  out  ;  those 
that  receive  messages  from1  the  sense  organs  and 
those  that  send  out  messages  to  the  muscles. 
The  former  are  the  sensory  centres  and  the 
latter  the  motor  centres.  The  motor  region  is 
to  be  found  near  the  fissure  of  Rolando.  Of 
the  sensory  areas  it  is  generally  agreed  that  the 
visual  is  situated  at  the  back  of  the  head  and 
the  auditory  near  the  temples.  The  existence 
of  these  centres  was  established  by  three  distinct 
kinds  of  evidence.  Let  us  for  the  sake  of  sim- 
plicity confine  our  attention  to  the  motor  area 
controlling  the  right  arm.  When  this  limb 
becomes  paralysed,  we  may  infer  the  presence 
of  a  tumour  or  haemorrhage  on  a  specific  part 
of  the  left  hemisphere — an  inference  which  is 
found  to  be  justified  whenever  direct  observa- 
tion is  possible,  as  at  a  post-mortem  examina- 
tion. This  is  the  pathological  evidence.  In 
experiments  on  animals  of  the  higher  type,  such 
as  monkeys  or  dogs,  it  is  found  that  irritation 
of  the  particular  part  of  the  cortex  already  re- 
ferred to  brings  about  well-defined  movements 
in  the  right  arm  or  the  right  foreleg,  as  the 


BIOLOGICAL  CONSIDERATIONS  21 

case  may  be,  and  that  ablation  of  the  cortical 
area  produces  paralysis  of  the  limb.  This  is 
the  vivisectional  evidence.  Finally,  in  the  dis- 
secting-room neural  connections  can  be  traced 
from  the  special  area  to  the  special  limb  via 
the  motor  tracts  in  the  spinal  cord.  This  is 
the  anatomical  evidence.  The  same  three  kinds 
of  evidence  prove  the  existence  pf  the  sensory 
areas.  In  recent  books  on  the  brain  it  has  been 
customary  to  insert  diagrams  with  the  various 
cortical  areas  definitely  marked  out  and  labelled. 
This  is  somewhat  misleading.  The  most  we 
can  say  is  that  the  various  cerebral  activities 
tend  to  cluster  round  certain  fixed  spots,  and 
that  this  localization  is  more  marked  in  the 
higher  animals  than  in  the  lower.  One  is 
tempted,  therefore,  to  think  of  the  brain  as  con- 
sisting of  cells  of  two  distinct  kinds — sensory 
and  motor — with  fibres  connecting  certain 
sensory  cells  with  certain  motor  cells,  and  other 
fibres  connecting  sensory  cells  with  one  another, 
and  to  believe  that  when  the  stream  of  innerva- 
tion  passes  along  the  former  fibres  we  are  acting 
with  little  or  no  thinking,  and  when  it  passes 
along  the  latter  fibres  we  are  thinking  with 
little  or  no  acting.  Although  a  microscopic 
examination  of  the  brain  does  not  entirely  bear 
out  this  simple  theory,  it  may  be  taken  as  a 
rough  and  schematic  representation  of  what 
actually  takes  place.  The  cells  found  in  the 
brain  are  very  numerous.  Meynert  estimates 
that  there  are  1,200  millions  in  the  cortex  alone. 
These  cells  are  given  at  birth  and  there  is 


22      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

no  evidence  that  they  increase  in  number.  They 
cannot  multiply  by  fission  after  the  manner  of 
the  ordinary  organic  cell  :  they  can  only 
develop.  They  develop  by  sending  out  fibres 
which  ramify  into  fine  tendrils,  and  these  coming 
into  some  sort  of  functional  connection  with 
similar  ramifications  from  other  cells  set  up  lines 
of  comteinication  between  cell  and  cell.  If 
this  theory  is  sound,  a  man  cannot  by  cultiva- 
tion get  more  brains,  he  can  only  get  better 
brains.  It  is  consoling  to  know  that  even  in 
the  most  highly  educated  there  are  large  masses 
of  cells  wholly  undeveloped.  They  are  the  un- 
employed of  the  cerebral  community,. 

This  rough  and  somewhat  schematic  account 
is  subject  to  certain  reservations.  The  rami- 
fications of  the  cortical  cells  or  neurons  do  not 
actually  touch  those  of  other  cells,  and  some 
recent  experiments  of  neurologists  tend  to  show 
that  the  excitation  passes  from  one  series  of 
fibres  to  another  by  means  of  a  process 
analogous  to  electrical  "  induction." 

Mr.  McDougall  attaches  great  importance  to 
the  synapses,  or  junctions  between  neurons.1  As 
there  is  no  continuity  of  substance  between  the 
neurons  each  synapse  presents  a  certain  resist- 
ance to  the  passage  of  the  nervous  impulse, 
and  the  formation  of  neural  habits  simply  means 
the  permanent  lowering  of  resistances  of  this 
nature. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  distinction  between 
sensory  and  motor  when  applied  to  brain  cells 

1  "  Physiological  Psychology,"  pp.  27-33. 


BIOLOGICAL  CONSIDERATIONS  23 

is  somewhat  arbitrary  ;  for  every  cell  is  in  a 
certain  sense  both  sensory  and  motor.  It  is 
sensory  inasmuch  as  it  receives  neural  currents  : 
it  is  motor  inasmuch  as  the  currents  pass  out 
again.  Flechsig  has  specially  emphasized  this 
dual  nature  of  brain  elements.  Although  this 
fact,  supporting  as  it  does  the  theory  of  the 
dynamo  genie  nature  of  all  ideation  (the  theory 
that  every  idea  tends  to  work  itself  out  in  action), 
is  by  no  means  unimportant,  yet  it  is  considered 
wise  to  preserve  the  generally  accepted  distinc- 
tion between  sensory  and  motor  brain  areas, 
provided  it  is  understood  that  they  refer  to 
regions  that  first  receive  excitations  from  the 
sense  organs,  and  regions  that  finally  emit  these 
excitations  to  the  muscles.  It  is  well,  however, 
to  remember  that  the  real  distinction  between 
sensory  and  motor  is  functional  rather  than 
structural. 

It  does  not  seem  to  be  quite  certain  whether 
the  motor  areas  are  near  the  surface  of  the 
cortex  or  at  a  deeper  level.  The  tactile  and 
kinassthetic  areas  virtually  coincide  with  the 
motor  areas  of  the  organs  in  which  these  kinass- 
thetic  sensations  have  their  source.  It  may 
be  that  the  different  kinds  of  cells  are  mixed  up, 
or  it  may  be  that  they  occupy  different  cortical 
depths. 

Vague  and  indefinite  as  some  of  these  con- 
siderations are,  they  press  upon  us  the  import- 
ance of  the  motor"  factor  in  the  growth  of  the 
brain.  Progress  lies  in  the  line  of  cell  develop- 
ment, and  cells  develop  in  order  to  establish 


24     HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

connections  between  various  parts  of  the  brain. 
The  earliest,  the  most  rudimentary,  and  the  most 
stable  connections  are  those  between  sensory 
cells  and  motor  cells,  whether  those  connections 
are  mediate  or  immediate.  Cerebral  excitement 
naturally  sweeps  from  sensory  areas  to  motor 
areas,  so  that  in  opening  up  new  brain-paths 
the  route  from  sensory  to  motor  appears  to  offer 
the  least  resistance.  As  the  brain  becomes  more 
highly  organized  the  route  becomes  more  com- 
plex. The  current  frequently  passes,  from  one 
sensory  area  to  other  sensory  areas  before  it 
arrives  at  the  motor  region.  In  some  cases  it 
seems  never  to  reach  the  motor  region  at  all. 
But  closer  scrutiny  of  what  takes  place  in  the 
mind  will  reveal  the  fact  that  motor  factors 
enter  into  the  most  abstract  train  of  thought, 
and  these  motor  factors  must  have  some  physical 
basis.  It  is  easy  to  see  why  a  young  child 
lives  so  fully  the  life  of  sense  and  movement. 
His  sensory  and  motor  cells  are  being  stimu- 
lated into  activity.  To  check  this  healthy 
tendency  in  the  interests  of  the  higher  pro- 
cesses of  thought  is  probably  to  take  away  the 
ladder  by  which  these  higher  processes  are 
ultimately  reached. 


SENSORI-MOTOR   REACTION 

IF  we  are  to  regard  the  reflex  arc — sensori- 
motor  reaction- — as  the  general  type  of  function 
by  which  the  organism  adjusts  itself  to  its 
environment,  it  immediately  assumes  importance 
as  the  starting-point  of  the  educative  process 
and  as  the  basal  type  of  means  by  which  de- 
velopment is  effected.  It  is  only  by  observing 
how  an  organism  responds  to  a  given  stimulus 
that  the  psychologist  can  hope  to  discover  the 
nature  of  the  mental  processes  of  that  organism. 
It  is  only  by  providing  a  suitable  environment 
that  the  teacher  can  produce  those  changes  at 
which  education  aims.  It  is  therefore  necessary 
to  examine  this  basal  type  somewhat  closely. 

The  popular  notion  seems  to  be  that  adjust- 
ment to  environment  takes  the  form  of  succes- 
sive steps,  each  of  which  may  be  analysed  into 
three  elements — external  stimulus,  central  re- 
flection, and  motor  response.  This  conception 
with  its  corresponding  nomenclature  may  be 
criticized  at  three  points.  In  the  first  place 
the  term  sensori-motor  is,  strictly  speaking,  a 
misnomer.  In  the  second  place  the  stimulus 
is  not  necessarily  external,  in  the  sense  of  being 

extra -organic.     In  the  third  place  the  steps  are 

35 


26     HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

not  successive,  in  the  sense  that  A  is  finished 
before  B  begins,  and  B  is  finished  before  C 
begins,  and  so  forth.  In  other  words  the  reflex 
arc  is  not  an  arc  but  a  circuit. 

The  term  sensori-motor  is  a  hybrid  due  to 
looking  at  the  process  of  adjustment  from  two 
disparate  points  of  view.  It  has  been  contended 
that  sensory  is  a  psychological  term  ;  motor  a 
physical  term  :  l  that  in  the  mind  the  counter- 
part of  the  reaction  is  probably  entirely  sensory  ; 
in  the  body  the  whole  process  is  motor.  It 
must  be  acknowledged  that  all  attempts  to 
classify  mental  processes  on  the  triadic  basis 
of  the  reflex  arc  have  signally  broken  down. 
There  is  nothing  in  consciousness  that  is  exactly 
connected  with  the  passage  of  the  neural  dis- 
turbance along  the  afferent  nerve,  and  nothing 
connected  with  its  passage  along  the  efferent 
nerve.  The  central  process  alone  seems  to  be 
correlated  with  consciousness  ;  and  the  central 
process  is,  as  Bawden  puts  it,  "  the  beginning 
of  the  act  of  the  response.'*  This  point  of  view 
will  become  more  clear  later  on  when  it  will  be 
shown  that  an  idea  (using  the  word  in  its  widest 
sense)  has  motor  or  kinsesthetic  elements  as  an 
essential  part  of  its  existence.  We  cannot  in 
fact  profitably  analyse  the  reflex  arc  into  dis- 
tinct parts  either  on  the  physiological  or  the 
psychological  side  :  we  can  only  analyse  it 
into  aspects.  Looked  at  as  the  basis  of  a 

1  See  "The  Functional  Significance  of  the  Terms  '  Sensory  ' 
and  '  Motor/ "  by  H.  H.  Bawden,  the  Psychological  Review, 
vol.  vii.  pp.  390-400. 


SENSORI-MOTOR  REACTION  27 

conscious   process   the   arc   is   sensory  :    looked 
at  as  the  basis   of  an  act,   it   is  motor. 

To  the  contention  that  the  conscious  counter- 
part of  a  sensori-motor  reaction  is  conation  (the 
striving  aspect  of  consciousness),  it  may  be  re- 
plied that  a  conation  regarded  concretely  em- 
braces all  the  mental  processes  concerned. 
Conation  cannot  be  distinguished  as  a  separate 
part  of  a  mental  process,  as  the  incoming  or 
outgoing  currents  can  be  distinguished  as  sepa- 
rate stages  of  a  reflex  act  :  it  is  mierely  an 
aspect  of  all  conscious  process,  separable  in 
thought  but  not  in  reality.  Even  so  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether,  as  a  mode  of  being  immediately 
conscious,  it  is  distinguishable  from  the  affec- 
tive side.  It  is  true,  however,  that  the  general 
theory  of  sensori-motor  reaction  involves  the 
principle  that  all  mental  processes,  the  highest 
as  well  as  the  lowest,  are  conative  in  their 
nature  :  they  move  towards  an  end.  But  the 
conative  aspect  does  not,  to  the  exclusion  of 
other  aspects  of  consciousness,  rest  on  the  kind  of 
neural  activity  we  have  described.  Every  kind 
of  conscious  process  finds  in  this  activity  its 
physical  basis.  It  is  the  whole  "  neurosis." 

The  craving,  longing,  yearning,  etc,  of  which 
Stout  regards  conation  as  a  common  character- 
istic may  well  be  referred  to  the  feeling  aspect 
of  consciousness.  Wundt,  in  fact,  does  so.  He 
supplements  the  pleasure-pain  series  of  feelings 
by  an  excitement-depression  series  and  a 
tension -relief  series.  Royce  has  two  series, 
pleasure-pain  and  restlessness -quiescence.  But 


28     HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

whatever  the  nature  of  conation  may  be  it  is 
quite  certain  that  it  bears  no  fixed  general  rela- 
tion to  either  of  the  so-called  elements  of  the 
sensori -motor  circuit. 

The  theory  that  there  are  sensations  corre- 
sponding! to  the  motor  discharge — feelings  of 
innervation — may  be  dismissed  as  unsupported 
by  sufficient  evidence.  The  specific  sensations 
to  which  the  responsive  movements  give  rise- 
motor  sensations — are  of  course  due  to  incoming 
currents,  and  are  as  much  sensory  as  the  sensa- 
tions more  immediately  due  to  the  stimulus. 
This  fact,  however,  by  no  means  disposes  of  the 
theory  of  feelings  of  innervation,  if  by  feelings 
we  mean  something  entirely  different  from  sen- 
sations. Mr.  C.  H.  Judd,  the  American  Psycho- 
logist, holds  the  view  that  the  most  scientific 
classification  of  mental  processes  is  based  on  a 
recognition  of  the  (relatively)  objective  nature 
of  cognition,  and  the  subjective  nature  of  feel- 
ing and  volition.  Any  given  mental  process  Imay, 
in  fact,  be  regarded  as  comprising  both  attitude 
and  content — the  former  representing  the  sub- 
jective reaction  to  "  cognition. "  I  They  bear 
a  relation  somewhat  analogous  to  that  existing 
between  force  and  matter.  He  regards  the 
attitude  as  a  mode  of  consciousness  entirely 
distinct  from  sensation  and  mainly  connected 
with  the  outgoing  motor  discharge.  This  way 
bf  looking  at  the  mind  is  not  without  its  advan- 
tages as  a  scientific  method,  and  is  perhaps  the 

1  See  "  The  Doctrine  of  Attitudes,"  Journal  of  Philosophy, 
Psychology,  and  Scientific  Method,  vol.  v.  No.  25  (1908). 


SENSORI-MOTOR  REACTION  29 

nearest  approach  to  a  psychological  classifica- 
tion based  on  the  sensori-motor  impulse. 
Dewey's  criticism,  however,  that  there  is  no  cog- 
nition until  some  reaction  takes  place  still 
applies.  It  may  also  be  pointed  out  that  the 
Manchester  School  of  Realists,  of  which  Pro- 
fessor Alexander  is  the  leading  exponent,  make 
a  somewhat  similar  distinction  between  the  sub- 
jective and  the  objective  (or,  as  they  term!  it, 
the  mental  and  the  astra-mental)  without  con- 
necting it  in  any  way  with  the  reflex  arc. 

We  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  no  part  of 
the  reflex  arc  is  essentially  sensory  or  essentially 
motor,  that  there  is  no  dichotomy  in  conscious- 
ness corresponding  to  these  two  terms,  and  that 
the  reflex  arc  may  most  profitably  be  considered 
as  a  unity  which  is  motor  or  sensory  according 
to  the  point  of  view  from  which  it  is  regarded. 

The  second  criticism  is  that  the  stimulus  is 
not  wholly  external  :  it  may  be  entirely  intra- 
organic.  In  many  cases  this  is  obvious. 
Messrs.  Angell  and  Moore,  in  analysing  the 
simple  sound-touch  reaction-time  experiment,1 
rightly  contend  that  the  stimulus  comes  from 
the  hand  as  well  as  from  the  sound-signal.  The 
hand  is  prepared  to  react  in  a  definite  way. 
This  preparedness  involves  kinsesthetic  sensa- 
tions, which  are  as  much  a  part  of  the  stimulus 
to  the  specific  reaction  as  the  sensations  medi- 
ated by  the  ear. 

Finally,  the  reflex  arc  is  not  an  arc  but  a 
circuit.  Dewey,  in  criticizing  the  reflex  arc  con- 
1  The  Psychological  Review,  vol.  iii.  pp.  244-58. 


30     HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

cept,1  maintains  that  adjustment  to  environment 
is  a  continuous  series  of  co-ordinations,  with 
stimuli  and  response  continually  running  into 
one  another.  He  takes  James's  case  of  the  child 
and  the  candle,  and  shows  that  it  is  not  a  case 
of  substituting  a  motor  response  for  a  sensory 
stimulus,  since  the  sensory  stimulus  in  a  modified 
form  still  remains.  "  The  so-called  response 
is  not  merely  to  the  stimulus  :  it  is  into  it." 
'  The  burn  is  the  original  seeing  :  it  is  seeing  - 
of  -a-light-that-means-pain  -when-contact  -  occurs . 
The  burn  is  not  replacing  one  experience  (light) 
by  another,  but  the  development  or  mediation 
of  an  experience.*'  He  further  states  :  "  Neither 
mere  sensation  nor  mere  movement  can  be  either 
stimulus  or  response  :  only  an  act  can  be  that  ; 
the  sensation  as  stimulus  means  the  lack  of  and 
search  for  such  an  objective  stimulus,  or  orderly 
placing  of  an  act  ;  just  as  mere  movement  as 
a  response  means  the  lack  of  and  search  for 
the  right  act  to  complete  a  given  co-ordination." 
If  these  views  are  sound  the  simplest  physio- 
logical correlate  of  consciousness  is  an  act, 
which  may  subsequently  be  analysed  into  stimu- 
lation and  reaction.  "It  is,"  to  quote  Dewey 
once  more,  "  the  movement  (of  seeing)  that  is 
primary,  and  the  sensation  of  light  that  is 
secondary."  This  implies  that  some  sort  of 
physiological  response  takes  place  before  the 
mental  response  commences.  The  light  stimu- 
lates the  eyes  and  reflexly  produces  convergence 

1  "The   Reflex  Arc  Concept,"  the    Psychological    Review, 
vol.  iii.  pp.  355-70. 


SENSORI-MOTOR  REACTION  31 

and  accommodation  before  the  light  is  appre- 
hended at  all  by  the  child.  This  little  adjust- 
ment then  forms  part  of  a  larger  adjustment. 
It  is  a  case  of  wheels  within  wheels. 

We  have  it,  therefore,  still  more  strongly  forced 
upon  us  that  a  simple  reflex  arc  mediates  no 
elements  in  consciousness  which  correspond  to 
elementary  phases  or  parts  into  which  the  arc 
may  be  analysed. 

This  analysis  of  the  sensori-motor  reaction, 
however,  need  not  prevent  us  from  maintaining 
a  broad  distinction  between  that  mode  of  con- 
sciousness which  is  mainly  (it  can  never  be 
entirely  so)  passive  or  receptive,  and  that  mode 
of  consciousness  which  is  mainly  (it  can  never 
be  entirely  so)  active  or  expressive.  Nor  need 
it  prevent  us  from  referring  to  the  candle  as  the 
stimulus  and  the  reaching  towards  it  as  the  re- 
action, provided  we  remember  that  we  thus  take 
a  broad  view  of  a  complex  sensori-motor  co- 
ordination which  includes  within  it  as  essential 
parts  still  smaller  sensori-tnotor  co-ordinations. 
What  the  inquiry  does  reveal  is  the  fundamental 
nature  of  muscular  movements  as  forming  an 
essential  part  of  the  physical  correlate  of  con- 
scious process. 


CONSIDERATIONS    MORE    STRICTLY 
PSYCHICAL 

WHEN  we  come  to  consider  the  strictly  psycho- 
logical aspect  of  the  question,  we  find  a  wealth 
of  evidence  awaiting  us.  I  have  already  tried 
to  show  that  the  mental  powers  came  into  being 
in  close  connection  with  movement.  Can  we 
by  introspection  verify  these  conclusions?  If 
muscular  activity  is  such  an  important  factor 
in  building  up  the  mental  fabric,  surely  we 
ought  to  find  some  evidence  of  it  when  we 
look  into  our  own  minds.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
we  do.  All  students  of  psychology  know  that 
the  five  senses  popularly  recognized  do  not 
exhaust  the  list.  Not  only  are  the  temperature 
and  static  senses  omitted,  but  the  most  impor- 
tant sense  of  all — the  motor  sense — is  left  out. 
What  do  I  mean  by  the  motor  sense?  Let  me 
answer  this  question  by  asking  another.  If  I 
close  my  eyes  and  then  shift  the  position  of  my 
arm,  how  do  I  know  that  my  arm  actually  has 
moved,  the  extent  and  nature  of  the  movement, 
and  the  position  the  arm  finally  occupies?  It 
can  only  be  by  sensations  of  some  sort.  Is  it 
by  the  sense  of  touch?  No,  for  this  sense  is 

confined  to  the  skin,  and  contact  with  clothing 

32 


CONSIDERATIONS  MORE  STRICTLY   PSYCHICAL    33 

and  other  objects  is  no  essential  part  of  the  total 
experience.     If  the  arm  is  bare  and  the  move- 
ment  unimpeded,    I    know    what    has    happened 
just   the  same.      This    knowledge    can   only   be 
due    to    the    general    "  feel  "    of    the    arm — to 
sensory  currents  streaming  into  the  brain  from 
the    muscles,    tendons,    skin    and    joints.      The 
cartilaginous    surfaces    of    the    joints    are    well 
supplied  with  nerves,  as  rheumatic  patients  will 
readily     testify,    and     experiments     with     local 
anaesthetics  have  shown  how  extremely  important 
these  nerves  are  in  mediating  a  knowledge  of 
position    and    movement.      The    whole    sensory 
apparatus  involved  in  movement  has  been  called 
the  muscular  sense   (which  is  manifestly  inade- 
quate),   and   the    kinassthetic    sense     (which    is 
Greek),  and  the  motor  sense   (which  is  simple 
and  familiar).     I   shall  use  the  last  two  terms 
interchangeably.    The  motor  sense  has  no  special 
organ  :    its  nerve  terminations  are  to  be  found 
in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  body.      Neither  is  it 
given,    in   the   rnajority    of   the   diagrams    pub- 
lished, a  special  area  in  the  cortex.     This  omis- 
sion is   due  to   the   fact  that   the  sensory  (cells 
concerned   with   certain   muscles    are   mixed   up 
with  the  motor  cells  concerned  with  the  same 
muscles.     The  two  'areas  overlap,  even  if  they 
do  not  completely  'coincide.     In  fact,  the  motor 
zone  of  the  brain  is  at  the  same  time  a  motor 
region  and  a   sensory  region. 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  motor  sense  as 
the  most  important  of  all  the  senses.  This 
statement  I  will  now  proceed  to  make  good. 

3 


34      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

There  are  grounds  for  believing  the  motor  sense 
to  be  the  original,  the  basal  sense,  from'  which 
all  the  others  have  been  developed.  This  claim 
has  sometimes  been  made  for  the  sense  of 
touch.  But  touch  can  most  profitably  be  re- 
garded as  a  part  of  the  whole  motor  sensibility. 
The  amount  of  knowledge  mediated  by  touch 
pure  and  simple  is  insignificant  in  the  extreme. 
A  blind  man  by  feeling  a  familiar  object  is 
able  to  identify  it.  We  glibly  say  that  he 
identifies  it  by  the  sense  of  touch  ;  but  it  is 
nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  he  identifies  it 
by  the  sense  of  movement.  Divest  the  experi- 
ence of  all  movement  and  all  muscular  pressure, 
and  most  of  its  vividness  and  definiteness  dis- 
appears. It  is  not  without  significance  that 
the  tactual  area  in  the  cortex  coincides  with  the 
corresponding  motor  area.  In  brain  localization 
they  are  indistinguishable.  It  is  convenient, 
therefore,  to  regard  touch  as  a  subsidiary  branch 
of  the  motor  sense. 

Since  voluntary  movement  is  a  characteristic 
of  all  animal  life,  every  animal,  however  low 
down  in  the  scale,  possesses  a  motor  sense.  It 
is  a  necessary  condition  of  voluntary  adjust- 
ment, and  therefore  of  educability.  Even  if 
no  special  sense  organs  are  perceptible,  sen- 
sibility to  impact  with  other  substances  and 
to  change  in  bodily  position  must  at  least  be 
present.  The  motor  sense  is  the  primordial 
sense. 

There  are,  however,  certain  considerations  of 
structure  which  seem  to  undermine  this  position. 


CONSIDERATIONS  MORE  STRICTLY  PSYCHICAL    35 

Recent  histological  researches  have  provided 
certain  criteria  by  which  the  relative  ages  of 
the  various  cortical  areas  may  be  established. 
It  is  now  possible  to  state  with  a  fair  degree  of 
certainty  the  order  in  which  along  the  period  of 
biological  development  the  various  senses  got 
represented  in  the  cortex.  Dr.  Alfred  W.  Camp- 
bell gives  the  order  as  follows  :  smell,  sight, 
hearing,  common  sensation,  locomotion.  "  The 
motor  function  is  late  in  being  represented  in 
the  upper  or  cortical  level."  "  We  cannot  doubt 
that  the  movements  of  all  non-mammalian  verte- 
brates (Pisces,  Amphibia,  Reptilia,  Aves),  de- 
spite their  activity,  must  necessarily  be  generated 
in  the  spinal  cord,  probably  co-ordinated  by  the 
well -developed  cerebellum.  Then  even  among 
mammals,  it  is  as  likely  that  there  are  many 
low  down  in  the  scale  in  which  movement  is 
either  not  at  all,  or  only  indifferently,  repre- 
sented in  the  cortex  cerebri."  l  These  views, 
based  mainly  on  a  microscopic  examination  of 
the  cortex  of  one  of  the  higher  mamftials,  are 
supported  by  the  results  of  investigations  among 
lower  animals.  Professor  E.  A.  Ayers  states, 
for  instance,  that  nearly  half  the  brain  of  the 
catfish  is  devoted  to  taste  functions. 

It  may,  however,  be  pointed  out  that  we  have 
no  reason  to  believe  that  consciousness  is  in 
the  lower  animals  so  exclusively  correlated  with 
cortical  processes  as  it  is  in  man.  The  numerous 
experiments  that  have  been  made  on  frogs  and 

1  "  Histological  Studies  in  the  Localization  of    Cerebral 
Functions,"  by  Dr.  A.  W.  Campbell,  p.  289. 


36      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

pigeons  tend  to  show  that  they  probably  "  feel" 
processes  which  take  place  at  lower  levels  than 
those  which  arouse  distinct  feeling  in  man.  It 
may  further  be  pointed  out  that  motor  sensa- 
tions seem  in  most  cases  to  function  marginally 
more  effectively  than  focally.  In  perfecting  an 
act  of  skill,  for  instance,  the  learner  does  not? 
fix  his  attention  on  the  sensation  of  movement, 
but  on  the  external  situation  and  the  series  of 
results  produced  by  his  movements.  Finally 
it  may  be  urged  that  the  fact  that  the  educability 
of  an  animal  appears  to  develop  part  passu  with 
the  development  of  motor  representation  in  the 
cortex,  in  itself  tends  to  establish  the  functional 
priority  of  kinaesthetic  sensations  when  regarded 
from  an  educational  point  of  view. 

Activity  in  the  motor  sense  accompanies 
activity  in  all  the  other  senses  and  co-operates 
with  them.  A  parallel  can  be  found  in  the 
fingers.  The  most  important  finger  is  the  thumb. 
When  a  bit  of  business  has  to  be  done  by  the 
hand,  two  fingers  are  sufficient  to  form  a  quorum, 
but  one  of  them  must  be  the  thumb.  It  is 
brought  into  action  with  all  the  others.  In  the 
same  way  the  motor  sense  co-operates  with  all 
the  other  senses.  They  cannot  act  without  it  ; 
it  is  the  inevitable  and  indispensable  partner. 
One  cannot  look  at  an  object  without  a  large 
number  of  muscles  being  brought  into  play.  To 
say  nothing  of  the  necessity  for  turning  the  head 
in  the  right  direction,  the  small  muscles  sur- 
rounding the  eyeballs  must  so  regulate  their  con- 
vergence as  to  bring  the  axes  of  vision  to  meet 


CONSIDERATIONS  MORE  STRICTLY  PSYCHICAL    37 

at  the  object  ;  and  the  still  more  delicate  piuscles 
connected  with  the  crystalline  lens  must  so 
modify  its  convexity  that  the  image  falls  exactly 
on  the  retina.  The  visual  apparatus  has,  in  fact, 
to  be  put  through  the  same  kind  of  focusing 
process  as  a  photographic  camera,  allowance 
being  made  for  the  fact  that  in  the  camera  the 
convexity  of  the  lens  is  fixed  and  the  position 
of  the  plate  variable,  while  in  the  eye  the 
position  of  the  retina  is  fixed  and  the  convexity 
of  the  lens  variable.  These  muscular  experiences 
of  convergence  and  accommodation,  even  though 
they  appear  to  be  entirely  subconscious,  form  an 
essential  part  of  the  whole  process  of  perception. 
They  are  so  fused  with  the  purely  visual  impres- 
sions as  to  be  indistinguishable  from  them  ;  but 
their  presence  is  none  the  less  indispensable. 
The  senses  present  data  ;  the  mind  interprets  the 
data  ;  the  interpretation  is  an  object  in  space. 
Motor  sensations  always  form  part  of  the  data 
interpreted  ;  they  are  vehicles  of  knowledge  con- 
cerning the  object.  They  are  of  special  service 
in  telling  its  distance  from  the  eye,  its  size,  and 
its  solidity  as  opposed  to  its  flatness.  Vision 
pure  and  simple  presents  a  mere  patch  of  colour  : 
the  motor  concomitants  help  to  turn  this  patch  of 
colour  into  a  three-dimensional  object  occupy- 
ing a  definite  position  in  space.1 

1  The  researches  of  Dawes  Hicks,  Rivers,  and  Lewis,  into 
the  role  of  movement  factors  in  the  production  of  certain 
optical  illusions,  by  the  comparison  of  momentary  and  pro- 
longed exposure,  discredit  the  view  that  these  illusions  are,  in 
developed  consciousness,  due  to  eye  movements  ;  and  tend,  in 


38      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

In  much  the  same  sort  of  way  the  motor  sense 
collaborates  with  all  the  other  senses. 

But  apart  from  these  motor  sensations  which 
get  swallowed  up  in  percepts,  the  sense  organs 
actually  stop  working  unless  their  position  is 
changed.  If  you  will  take  the  trouble  to  sit  .stone 
still  with  your  gaze  steadily  fixed  on  a  spot  on 
the  opposite  wall,  you  will  find  that  at  the  end  of 
about  ten  minutes  a  black  veil  seems  to  fall  and 
blot  out  the  whole  field  of  vision.  You  become 
temporarily  blind,  but  normal  vision  can  readily 
be  restored  by  a  slight  shifting  of  the  eyeballs. 
Rest  your  hand  lightly  upon  the  table  so  as  just 
to  feel  the  surface.  After  a  short  while  you 
cease  to  feel  anything  there.  Move  your  hands 
ever  so  little  and  tactual  sensation  is  immediately 
restored.  Without  movement,  in  fact,  sensation 
and  perception  become  impossible. 

A  third  reason  for  claiming  precedence  for  the 
motor  sense  is  that  it  gives  us  the  most  vivid  and 
convincing  feeling  of  reality.  It  is  through  the 
actual  manipulation  of  objects  that  the  notion 
of  a  systematic  external  world  as  distinct  from 
his  own  mental  images  gradually  emerges  in 
the  mind  of  the  young  child.  We  ourselves 
always  put  doubtful  experiences  to  the  authorita- 

consequence,  to  throw  some  doubt  upon  the  dependence  of 
other  visual  percepts  on  movement  factors.  But  even  if  not 
of  primary  importance  in  present  perception  there  is  little 
doubt  that  movements  of  the  eye  and  of  other  organs  have 
been  essential  to  the  development  of  local  signature  in  the 
retina,  and  to  giving  an  interpretation  of  "  depth  "  or  solidity 
to  the  disparity  of  the  two  retinal  images. 


CONSIDERATIONS  MORE  STRICTLY  PSYCHICAL    39 

tive  test  of  touch.  The  doubting  apostle  is  the 
type  of  all  doubters.  Macbeth  apostrophizes 
the  spectral  dagger  : 

Come  let  me  clutch  thee : 
I  have  thee  not,  and  yet  I  see  thee  still. 
Art  thou  not,  fatal  vision,  sensible 
To  feeling  as  to  sight  ?  or  art  thou  but 
A  dagger  of  the  mind  ? 

and  so  forth.  The  conclusion  he  arrives  at  is, 
'  There's  no  such  thing."  In  deciding  the  reality 
of  a  percept  the  motor  sense  is  the  highest  court 
of  appeal.  It  decisively  confirms  or  discredits 
the  evidence  of  the  other  senses  ;  the  experience 
is  stamped  as  real  or  hallucinatory.  Its  verdict 
is  accepted  as  final. 

Another  ground  for  attaching  supreme  im- 
portance to  the  motor  sense  is  its  intimate  con- 
nection with  the  process  of  attention.  If  I  were 
to  say  that  we  attend  with  our  muscles  I  should 
seem  tp  be  uttering  an  absurdity.  Yet  that  is 
what  Bain,  Ribot,  Lange,  and  other  psychologists 
virtually  assert.  The  focusing  mechanism  of 
the  eye  is  also  the  focusing  mechanism  of  visual 
attention.  Looked  at  from  the  outside  attention 
is  muscular  adjustment  ;  looked  at  from  the 
inside  it  is  mental  activity.  The  muscular 
activity,  according  to  this  school,  is  neither  the 
cause  nor  the  effect  of  attention  ;  it  is  attention 
looked  at  from  one  of  two  possible  points  of 
view.  The  truth  of  the  matter  seems  to  be  that 
muscular  contractions  always  accompany  the 
attentive  process,  helping  to  produce  and  to 


40      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

maintain  it  ;  but  to  say  that  they  form  an  essen- 
tial part  thereof  is  probably  to  mistake  the 
scaffolding  for  the  temple.  The  fact,  however, 
remains  that  there  is  a  very  close  connection 
between  at-tention  and  muscular  tension.  In 
acts  of  perception  this  is  obvious.  Not  only  is 
the  sense  organ  so  adjusted  as  best  to  receive 
the  stimuli,  but  all  movements  tending  seriously 
to  interfere  with  this  reception  are  inhibited. 
At  the  most  exciting  moments  in  a  football 
match  the  spectators  tend  to  hold  their  breath. 
This  principle  of  motor  impulsion  and  inhibition 
holds  equally  good  when  we  attend  to  ideas, 
except  that  the  innervation  of  the  muscles  is 
generally  much  slighter. 

A  marked  characteristic  of  the  motor  elements 
of  consciousness  is  their  tendency  to  float  farther 
and  farther  away  from  the  focus  and  ultimately 
to  enter  the  region  of  the  subconscious.  This 
is  connected  with  the  fact  that  all  acts  tend  by 
repetition  to  become  automatic,  and  in  becoming 
automatic  need  a  smaller  and  smaller  amount 
of  attentive  control. 

I  have  emphasized  the  ubiquitousness  of  motor 
sensations  in  the  life  of  the  senses.  But  this 
being  granted  it  by  no  means  follows  that  they 
are  pedagogically  important.  It  is  indeed  still 
an  open  question  whether  any  part  of  the  school- 
time  should  be  devoted  to  mere  sense -training. 
There  are,  in  fact,  three  distinct  views  on  this 
question.  It  is  held  by  some  that  ordinary 
out-of-school  life  affords  a  sufficient  basis  of 
sense -experience  for  the  teacher  to  rear  thereon 


CONSIDERATIONS  MORE  STRICTLY  PSYCHICAL    41 

the  intellectual  and  moral  structure  which  it  is 
the  main  object  of  the  school  to  build  up.  There 
are  others  who  hold  that  sense-training  is  neces- 
sary only  in  the  early  stages  of  the  school  career 
of  the  pupil  ;  and  there  are  others  again  who 
think  that  sense-training  of  some  sort  should 
form  an  essential  part  of  all  stages  of  edu- 
cation. 

Education  may  be  regarded  as  a  sort  of 
"  mental  hygiene  "  ;  and  it  is  clear  that  a  certain 
amount  of  activity  among  the  sense  organs  is 
necessary  to  keep  them,  and  the  mentality  depen- 
dent on  them,  in  a  sound,  healthy  condition. 
But  is  a  special  and  severe  training  in  sense 
discrimination  of  any  real  intellectual  and 
spiritual  value?  Is  such  training  worth  while? 
It  is  assumed  by  many  (the  Montessorian 
doctrine  affording  a  modern  instance  of  the 
assumption)  that  it  is  worth  while  ;  that  mental 
development  is  readily  fostered  by  a  training  in 
sense  discrimination  ;  and  that  the  beginnings 
of  a  sound  education  should  be  mainly  concerned 
with  the  things  of  sense,  as  things  of  sense- 
things  that  have  no  immediate  bearing  on  the 
imaginative  and  purposeful  life  of  the  pupil. 
But,  as  Mr.  W.  H.  Winch  has  frequently  pointed 
out,  the  intellectual  life  of  the  child  bears  no 
very  close  relation  to  the  range  of  his  sense  ex- 
perience :  there  may  be  much  of  the  one  and 
little  of  the  other.  Indeed  there  lurk  in  the 
doctrine  of  formal  sense-training  most  of  the 
fallacies  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  popular 
belief  in  formal  discipline — a  belief  in  a  large 


42      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL   MEDIUM 

general  result  due  to  a  small  piece  of  specific 
training. 

I  personally  hold  the  view  that  while  sense- 
training  is  necessary  and  desirable,  and  should 
enter  largely  into  our  educational  scheme,  there 
is  no  need  to  engage  in  special  sense-training— 
in  sense-training  for  its  own  sake.  The  activities 
of  the  senses  should  always  be  made  to  serve  the 
interests  of  higher  functions.  The  child  need 
not  be  taught  to  discriminate  shades  of  green 
as  a  disconnected  exercise  with  no  immediate 
purpose  in  view  beyond  the  mere  discrimination  ; 
but  he  should  learn  to  discern  these  colour  dif- 
ferences during  the  purposeful  activities  of  the 
nature-study  or  the  painting  lesson.  Whether 
the  teacher  wishes  it  or  not  the  pupil's  senses 
are  actively  engaged  during  the  whole  of  the 
time  that  he  is  being  taught,  and  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  teacher  to  utilize  the  pupil's  natural 
interest  in  this  activity  to  further  the  develop- 
ment of  functions  which  are  higher  and  more 
complex  in  their  nature  and  more  characteristic 
of  the  mind  of  man  as  distinct  from  the  mind  of 
the  brute. 

In  so  far  as  motor  sensations  are  sensations 
they  share  with  the  special  sensations  of  sight, 
hearing,  etc.,  whatever  credit  falls  to  sense- 
experience  as  the  ground  and  base  of  education  ; 
but  they  are  more  important  contributions  to 
the  mental  fabric  than  those  of  any  of  the  special 
senses,  first  because  they  are  more  universal, 
and  secondly  because  they  are  so  closely  con- 
nected with  the  active  as  distinct  from  the  passive 
side  of  experience. 


THE  NATURE  AND  ROLE  OF  MOTOR 
IMAGERY 

MUCH  discussion  has  taken  place  with  regard 
to  the  nature  of  the  motor  or  kinsesthetic  image 
and  the  part  it  plays  both  in  the  initiating  of 
movements  and  in  serving  as  a  vehicle  of 
thought.  Within  quite  recent  years  widely 
divergent  views  have  been  set  forth.  It  has 
been  maintained  that  motor  imagery  pervades 
the  whole  of  our  mental  life  ;  and  it  has  been 
denied  that  we  have  motor  images  at  all,  as 
distinct  from  motor  sensations.1  It  has  been 
maintained  that  a  motor  image  is  an  essential 
preliminary  to  a  voluntary  act  (the  usual  view), 
and  it  has  been  asserted  that  a  voluntary  act 
can  be  initiated  by  a  "  naked  thought/'  that  is 
a  thought  void  of  all  sensory  content.2  It  has 
been  claimed  that  all  meaning  adheres  to  the 
motor  elements  only  of  mental  imagery,3  while 
the  ordinary  view  is  that  it  can  adhere  to  all 

1  See  "  A  Marked  Case  of  Mimetic  Ideation,"  by  Stephen 
S.  Colvin  in  the  Psychological  Review,  vol.  xvii.  (July  1910). 

2  R.   S.   Woodworth  :  "  The  Cause  of  a  Voluntary  Move- 
ment" :    Studies  in   Philosophy   and    Psychology,    Carman 
commemorative  volume,  pp.  351-92. 

3  See  Bawden,  op.  cit. 

43 


44      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL   MEDIUM 

types  of  imagery,  and  indeed  mainly  does  attach 
itself  to  visual  and  auditory  images.  In  fine, 
there  is  much  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the 
intellectual  value  of  motor  imagery. 

There  seems  to  be  a  tendency  among  certain 
American   psychologists    to   revert   to   the   posi- 
tion   of   the    older    English    psychologists,    who 
regarded  an  image  as  differing  from1  the  corre-i 
spending  percept  in  degree  rather  than  in  kind. 
It   is,   according  to   Colvin,    no   longer   possible 
to  hold  the  theory  that  images  are  distinguished 
from   sensations   by   being   centrally   instead   of 
being  peripherally  excited.     Such  facts  as  that 
some  people  can  after  visualizing  a  colour  see 
its   complementary  when  they   open   their  eyes, 
cannot,  he  thinks,  be  reconciled  with  the  theory. 
We  do  not   seem   to   have   discovered   a  better 
method   of  differentiating   between   the    percept 
and   the   image   than   by   asking   the    following 
question  :    Does   the   person   believe   the   object 
to  be  actually  present?     If  he  does  the  mental 
process  is  perceptual  (even  though  it  be  hallu- 
cinatory) ;    if  he  does  not,  the  process  is  imagi- 
native.    This  test  is  easy  to  apply  in  the  case 
of  seeing  or  hearing,  for  these  senses  are  as  a 
rule  concerned   with  extra-organic   objects,    but 
in  the  case  of  motor  experiences  its  application 
is  much  more  difficult.      For,   generally  speak- 
ing,   the   source   of   stimulation    is    the    part    of 
the  body  that  is   itself  in  motion,   and  whether, 
it  is  actually  in  motion  or  not  it  is  always  in 
organic     connection     with     the     brain — always 
present  with  its  possible  "  resident  sensations." 


THE  NATURE  AND  ROLE  OF  MOTOR  IMAGERY      45 

Nor  are  we  able  alternately  to  make  and  break 
the  connection  between  the  source  of  stimula- 
tion and  the  brain  as  we  can  in  vision  by  opening 
and  shutting  the  eyes.  In  fact  it  seems  almost 
impossible  to  say  whether  the  so-called  "  motor 
image  "  is  really  an  image  or  consists  of  real 
sensations  due  to  nascent  movements  in  the 
organ  concerned.  There  are  three  possibilities. 
It  is  a  pure  image,  or  a  pure  sensation-mass,  or 
a  mixture  of  the  two.  I  am  personally  inclined 
to  the  belief  that  it  is  a  mixture.  I  cannot 
myself,  however,  resolve  by  introspection  an 
anticipatory  image  of  a  movement  into  any- 
thing but  visual  imagery  (in  the  case  of  vocal 
movements,  auditory  imagery)  plus  actual  sensa- 
tions from  the  member  to  be  moved. 

Bawden,  in  the  article  from  which  I  have 
already  quoted,  voices  a  fairly  common  opinion 
thus  :  "  The  way  in  which  the  kinassthetic  image 
tends  towards  movement  does  not  differ  from  the 
manner  in  which  any  image  tends  towards  move- 
ment. The  only  difference  is  in  the  immediate- 
ness  with  which  the  various  types  of  image  lead 
to  the  movement.  Every  auditory  and  every 
visual  sensation  tends  to  call  out  certain 
responses  through  the  mediation  of  the  kinass- 
thetic  imagery.  This  intermediate  kinaesthetic 
imagery  does  not  always  becom'e  conscious. 
It  may  serve  as  a  motor  cue  beneath  the 
threshold/' 

Several  of  the  points  raised  here  are  open  to 
objection.  The  general  tendency  of  ideas  to 
work  themselves  out  in  actual  movement  being 


46      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

conceded,  why  postulate  an  unnecessary  duplica- 
tion of  function?  Is  there  any  evidence,  intro- 
spective or  otherwise,  of  this  intercalation  of 
the  kinsesthetic  image?  One  thinks  in  visual  or 
auditory  terms  of  a  movement,  and  the  move- 
ment immediately  takes  place.  But  it  takes  an 
image  quite  an  appreciable  time  to  develop. 
Is  it  credible  that  we  have  first  a  visual  (or 
auditory)  image,  then  a  kinaesthetic  image,  and 
after  that  the  movement?  Can  we  believe  that 
in  rapid  speech  two  successive  images  precede 
each  spoken  wrord?  If  the  two  images  are 
supposed  to  be  not  successive  but  simultaneous 
the  case  is  simplified,  and  is  far  more  convincing. 
If  again  we  postulate  but  one  image  and  that 
a  sensation-complex  consisting  partly  of  an 
auditory  (or  visual)  image  and  partly  of  kinaes- 
thetic sensations  complicated  therewith,  the  case 
is  simplified  still  further,  for  on  this  supposition, 
as  soon  as  the  image  appears  the  movement  has 
already  commenced,  and  will  actually  be  com- 
pleted unless  inhibited.  This  latter  theory  seems 
to  me  to  fit  the  facts  better  than  the  other 
theories.  Bawden  indeed  gives  away  his  case 
later  on  when  he  states  :  "  The  kinassthetic 
imagery  always  stands  most  immediately  for 
the  movement  because  it  arises  from  the  incipient 
state  of  activity  of  the  organs  in  which  tthe 
movement  subsequently  is  to  take  place  in  overt 
form."  Unless,  that  is,  he  means  that  an 
"  incipient  state  of  activity "  is  not  a  real 
movement. 

Woodworth's  "  naked  thought "  theory  cannot 


THE  NATURE  AND  ROLE  OF  MOTOR  IMAGERY       47 

be  said  at  the  present  time  to  be  either  proved 
or  disproved.  The  few  recorded  instances  of 
what  is  alleged  to  be  pure  thought  are  supported, 
as  is  perhaps  inevitable,  by  merely  negative 
evidence.  No  imagery  was  discovered,  but 
subjects  more  highly  trained  in  introspection 
might  possibly  have  discovered  some.  The 
tendency,  however,  of  modern  Psychology  is  to 
attach  more  and  more  importance  to  the  purely 
psychical  factor  of  consciousness.  It  is 
"thought"  or  "meaning"  (Stout  and  McDou- 
gall),  or  "pure  memory"  (Bergson),  and  not 
the  sensory  elements  that  constitute  the  soul 
and  essence  of  a  conscious  state.  The  sensory 
elements  are,  at  best,  merely  its  points  of  support. 
To  say  that  kinaesthetic  imagery  "  does  not 
always  become  conscious  "  is  a  gross  misuse  of 
the  term  imagery.  Imagery  of  which  we  are 
not  conscious  is  not  imagery  at  all.  There  is 
a  kind  of  safety  in  saying  that  certain  things 
happen  "  beneath  the  threshold,"  for  if  the  state- 
ment cannot  be  proved,  it  at  least  cannot  be 
disproved.  But  why  not  frankly  acknowledge 
that  many  of  our  motor  activities  are  purely 
physiological — that  they  have  no  counterpart  at 
all  in  consciousness?  Are  we  to  believe  that 
every  movement  in  the  body,  every  beat  of  the 
heart,  every  muscular  contraction  or  expansion, 
is  preceded  by  a  kinsesthetic  image?  And  if 
it  is  contended  that  voluntary  muscles  alone 
have  this  privilege,  it  may  be  pointed  out  in 
reply  that  it  is  only  part  of  a  complex  muscular 
movement  that  is  really  voluntary  :  the  whole 


48      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

movement  includes  automatisms  fixed  by  heredity 
or  by  habit.  Some  of  the  co-ordinations,  both 
simultaneous  and  serial,,  take  place  with  the 
fatality  of  a  machine.  The  cues  to  the  various 
movements  as  they  occur  are  either  in  conscious- 
ness (in  the  focus  or  in  the  margin  ;  generally, 
of  course,  in  the  margin)  or  else  there  are  no 
conscious  cues  :  the  process  is  purely  physio- 
logical. Subliminal  cues  are  altogether  super- 
fluous. 

This  discussion  brings  out  the  fact  that  the 
theory  of  motor  imagery  is  beset  with  difficul- 
ties. The  one  thing  certain  is  that  our  motor 
experiences  profoundly  modify  our  mental  pro- 
cesses and  products.  After  having  fallen  on 
the  ice  and  felt  it,  the  sight  of  ice  will  never 
be  the  same  to  the  child  as  it  was  before  that 
experience.  If  motor  images  will  cling  to  the 
subsequent  sight  of  the  ice,  they  will  not  be 
cases  of  free  reproduction,  but  of  what  Stout 
calls  "complication."  The  sight  of  the  ice  will 
have  "  acquired  meaning  "  :  l  it  will  mean  some- 
thing to  be  trodden  upon  with  caution,  and 
something  which  feels  cold  and  damp  when 
touched  by  the  hand.  It  will  mean  that  when 
looked  at  ;  and  it  will  mean  that  when  only 
thought  about.  Both  percept  and  image  have 
become  richer  and  more  significant.  The  motor 
phase  has,  to  use  Dewey's  terminology,  deve- 
loped or  mediated  the  original  experience. 

Some  such  considerations   as   these,   together 
with   the   spread   of   Pragmatic   doctrines,    have 
1  "  Manual  of  Psychology,"  Bk.  I.  ch.  ii.  pp.  8,  9. 


THE  NATURE  AND  ROLE  OF  MOTOR  IMAGERY      49 

led  certain  psychologists  to  formulate  the 
theory  that  all  "  meaning"  resides  in  the  motor 
constituent  of  the  image.  The  germ  of  the 
theory  is  to  be  found  in  Berkeley's  "  Essay 
towards  a  New  Theory  of  Vision/'  where  it  is 
maintained  that  what  is  given  in  vision  is  a 
sign  of  something  else — of  experiences  of  touch 
and  movement.  Sight  is  expectation  (the  result 
of  "  custom"  or  habit)  of  meeting  phenomena 
of  touch  and  muscular  movement.  It  is  easy 
to  see  how  the  modern  psychologist  taking  the 
biological  standpoint  develops  this  idea.  If  life 
consists  of  adjustment  to  environment,  then  every 
stimulus  will  naturally  be  interpreted  in  terms 
of  that  adjustment.  In  the  case  of  the  physical 
universe  the  adjustment  must  manifestly  be 
motor  in  character.  When  we  think  of  the 
abstract  we  can  only  do  so  by  means  of  concrete 
imagery.  When  we  think  of  the  spiritual  we 
cannot  but  think  of  it  in  terms  of  the  material 
universe.  Simile  and  metaphor  are  indispens- 
able ;  and  the  motor  implications  of  this 
concrete  imagery  still  remain.  When  the  mean- 
ing of  any  image  is  fully  worked  out  its  ultimate 
elements  are  found  to  be  motor  in  character. 
Dewey  emphasizes  the  fact  that  "  meaning  is 
the  thing  that  grows  out  of  our  motor  experi- 
ences." He  says  :  "  The  acquisition  of  defi- 
niteness  and  of  coherency  (of  constancy)  of 
meanings  is  derived  primarily  from  practical 
activities."  l  "  And  in  the  case  of  the  meaning 
of  words,  we  see  readily  that  it  is  by  making 
1  "  How  we  Think,"  p.  122. 
4 


so    HANDWORK:  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

sounds  and  noting  the  results  which  follow,  by 
listening  to  the  sounds  of  others  and  watching 
the  activities  which  accompany  them,  that  a 
given  sound  finally  becomes  the  stable  bearer 
of  a  meaning.  Familiar  acquaintance  with 
meanings  thus  signifies  that  we  have  acquired, 
in  the  presence  of  objects,  definite  attitudes  of 
response  which  lead  us,  without  reflection,  to 
anticipate  certain  possible  consequences."  l 

Royce  takes  up  a  similar  position,  as  will  be 
seen  by  the  following  extracts  from  his  "  Outlines 
of  Psychology  "  :  "  A  vast  number  of  images, 
visual  as  well  as  motor,  relate  to  our  antici- 
pations of  future  events.  But  these  anticipations 
generally  go  along  with  tendencies  to  prepare 
for  the  future  events  by  one  or  another  (sort 
of  action.  In  brief,  the  whole  normal  life  of 
our  imagination  has  a  most  intimate  connection 
to  our  conduct,  and  should  not  be  studied  apart 
from  conduct."2  "Our  perception  is  but  a 
fragment  of  a  possible  consciousness  involving 
a  whole  system  of  feeling  and  of  conduct  in 
the  presence  of  such  an  object."  3  "  If  you 
are  to  train  the  powers  of  perception  you  must 
train  the  conduct  of  the  person  who  is  to  learn 
how  to  perceive. "3  "Such  then  is  the  general 
character  of  thought,  namely,  that  it  is  our 
consciousness  of  an  act  or  of  a  series  of  actls 
adjusted  to  an  object,  in  such  wise  as  fittingly 
to  represent  that  object,  or  to  portray  it,  or  to 
characterize  it,  and  in  such  wise  that  the  one 

1  "  How  we  Think,"  pp.  124,  125.  a  P.  160. 

3  Ibid.  p.  226. 


THE  NATURE  AND  R&LE  OF  MOTOR  IMAGERY      51 

who  thinks  is  conscious  of  the  nature  of  his 
act."1  "  Every  complete  general  idea  is  a 
conscious  plan  of  action/'2  Lange  holds  that  all 
imagination  depends  on  motor  adjustment.  Pro- 
fessor Bolton  contends  that  all  meaning  depends 
on  adjustment.  In  the  case  of  the  lower  animals 
the  meanings  that  objects  have  for  them1  consists 
in  the  responses  which  these  objects  evoke.  In 
the  case  of  human  beings  the  meaning  of  an 
object  of  perception  is  not  merely  the  adjust- 
ment that  has  taken  place,  but  of  other  reactions 
which  are  about  to  take  place. 3 

Among  the  psychologists  who  attach  import- 
ance to  motor  imagery  Ribot  stands  pre-eminent. 
He  contends  that  the  skeleton  of  every  state  of 
consciousness,  it  matters  not  what  it  is,  is  always 
made  up  of  motor  elements.  The  miotor  factor 
is  the  most  stable  part  of  every  idea  :  it  holds 
together  and  synthesizes  all  the  other  sense  ele- 
ments. 4 

Henri  Bergson's  theory  of  the  relation  between 
body  and  mind  as  expounded  in  his  book  on 
"  Matter  and  Memory,"  is  based  on  the  belief 
that  the  body  is  an  instrument  for  transmitting 
movement,  and  the  mind  the  means  of  securing 
that  the  movement  be  transmitted  into  appro- 
priate channels.  "  The  body,  always  turned 
towards  action,  has  for  its  essential  function  to 

1  "  Outlines  of  Psychology/'  p.  285.  2  Ibid.  p.  290. 

3  See  the  Psychological  Review,  vol  xv.  (1908).    "  Meaning  as 
Adjustment,"  pp.  168-72. 

4  "  Le  role  latent  des  images  motrices,"  Rev.  Phil.  1912,  73, 
248-56. 


52      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

limit,  with  a  view  to  action,  the  life  of  the 
spirit."  I  All  perception  implies  action,  motor 
adjustment.  Memory  falls  into  two  divisions, 
which  may  be  analysed  by  thought  but  are  never 
actually  separated  in  concrete  experience,  one 
of  which  divisions  he  calls  pure  memory  and 
the  other  motor  habit  memory.  The  pure 
memory,  the  general  storehouse  of  all  our 
conscious  experiences,  the  memory  that  never 
forgets,  brings  into  actual  consciousness  at  any 
moment  that  part  of  its  store  which  is  useful  for 
the  action  of  that  moment.  And  the  readiness, 
appropriations,  and  general  success  of  this  return 
to  consciousness  depend  on  the  mo  tor -habit 
memory,  the  memory  that  finds  its  support  in, 
the  motor  mechanisms  of  the  brain.  "  The 
orientation  of  our  consciousness  towards  action 
appears  to  be  the  fundamental  law  of  our 
psychical  life."  2 

These  extreme  pragmatic  views  of  the  nature 
of  imagery  and  meaning  stand  in  marked  con- 
trast with  the  views  put  forward  by  such 
English  writers  as  Bradley  and  Bosanquet. 
But  whatever  may  be  thought  about  Pragmatism 
as  a  means  of  solving  the  ultimate  riddles  of 
philosophy,  there  can  be  little  doubt  about  its 
value  in  throwing  light  upon  certain  problems 
of  Genetic  Psychology.  And  if  the  Pragmatic 
explanation  of  "meaning"  does  not  contain  the 
whole  truth  of  the  matter,  it  probably  contains 
an  important  part  of  it,  and  at  least  presents 

1  "  Matter  and  Memory  "  (English  translation),  p.  233. 
8  Ibid.  p.  234. 


THE  NATURE  AND  ROLE  OF  MOTOR  IMAGERY      53 

the  aspect  likely  to  prove  most  profitable  to 
the  educator. 

There  is  yet  another  way  in  which  motor 
activities  prove  valuable  in  fostering  mental 
process.  It  is  getting  to  be  recognized  more 
and  more  that  the  brain  is  dependent  for  healthy 
functioning  upon  the  current  stimulations  of 
sense.  It  used  to  be  thought  that  mental  con- 
centration was  favoured  by  cutting  off  all 
external  stimuli — external,  that  is,  to  the  brain. 
Such  insulation  as  a  matter  of  fact  is  impos- 
sible, for  the  organic  sensations  will  always 
remain  ;  perfect  silence  is  impossible,  and  even 
the  closed  eye  sees  darkness,  which  is  in  itself 
a  kind  of  optical  stimulus.  Even  if  total  exclu- 
sion were  possible,  it  would  not  be  desirable. 
When  certain  surroundings  are  found  favour- 
able to  study,  it  does  not  mean  that  all  sensory 
stimuli  have  been  excluded,  but  that  a  selection 
has  been  made  of  the  most  favourable  stimuli.1 

Certain  motor  activities  which  are  not  so 
violent  in  character  as  to  make  much  demand 
upon  one's  energy  are  often  found  to  encourage 
cerebration.  Certain  characteristic  tricks,  such 
as  fingering  a  button  or  toying  with  a  watch- 
chain  or  an  eyeglass,  are  popularly  regarded 
as  bad  habits — useless,  if  not  positively  harmful. 
James  regards  these  movements  as  serviceable 
in  fostering  thought  by  draining  off  superfluous 
brain  currents.  The  real  explanation,  it  seems 
to  me,  is  that  they  support  trains  of  thought 
by  providing  the  necessary  degree  of  present 
See  Royce's  "Outlines  of  Psychology,"  pp.  123,  124. 


54      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

sense  stimulation.  I  find  that  if  I  wish  to  con- 
centrate my  mind  on  a  difficult  problem  I  can 
do  so  best  while  rapidly  tapping  the  ground 
with  my  right  foot.  Some  can  think  best  with 
a  pen  in  the  hand  ;  others  find  the  typewriter, 
which  calls  more  fingers  into  action,  a  better 
stimulator  of  thought.  In  the  case  of  young 
children  and  adults  of  low  racial  type  the  im- 
portance of  this  auxiliary  stimulation  of  the 
brain  cannot  be  overestimated.  The  movements 
of  the  lips  during  silent  reading  and  the 
abundant  gesture  accompanying  animated  speech 
testify  to  their  need  of  motor  stimulations,  to 
which  the  meanings  they  are  striving  to  make 
clear  may  be  regarded  as  the  responses.  The 
ideal  of  a  class  of  children  sitting  motionless 
and  passive  is  fortunately  giving  way  to  the 
opposite  ideal  of  purposeful  activity. 

Professor  Stephen  Colvin  J  suggests  that  all 
imagery,  of  whatever  type,  finds  an  immediate 
sensory  basis  in  motor  sensations.  The  motor 
sensations  in  the  vocal  organs,  for  instance,  even 
if  they  do  not  entirely  constitute  what  is  some- 
times believed  to  be  the  auditory  image,  serve 
as  a  sort  of  stimulus  and  support  for  that  image. 
He  asserts  that  his  own  imagery  is  entirely 
kinaesthetic,  and  that  even  his  concept ional  think- 
ing is  carried  on  entirely  through  the  verbal - 
kinassthetic  images  or  sensations,  and  also  by 
a  sort  of  mimetic  symbolism — a  kind  of  internal 
speech  corresponding  to  gesture  language.  The 

1  See  "  The  Nature  of  the  Mental  Image,"  the  Psychological 
Review,  vol.  xv.  (1908). 


THE  NATURE  AND  ROLE  OF  MOTOR  IMAGERY       55 

cases  of  Laura  Bridgman  and  Helen  Keller  seem 
to  indicate  that  no  imagery  is  indispensable 
except  motor  imagery  ;  and  that  a  high  degree 
of  mental  culture  is  possible  when  motor  (in- 
cludirg  tactile)  imagery  is  the  only  kind  present 
that  cm  possess  intellectual  value. 

The  exact  relation  of  imagery  to  meaning — of 
the  seisory  content  of  consciousness,  whether 
motor  cr  other,  to  the  thought  with  which  this 
content  is  suffused — is  a  question  to  which 
moden  psychology  gives  no  authoritative  answer. 
It  is  leld  by  some  that  meaning  and  image  are 
one  2id  inseparable,  by  others  that  they  are 
distin<t  and  separable  ultimates.  It  is  believed 
by  Gere  1  that  image  is  stimulus,  meaning  the 
respone  ;  image  the  structure,  idea  the  use  that 
is  mae  of  the  structure.  It  is  maintained  by 
Pillsbuy  that  there  is  no  real  distinction  between 
image  ind  meaning  ;  that  image  is  in  the  last 
analysi  but  another  kind  of  meaning. 

The:act  that  there  is  no  observable  relation 
betwee  the  kind,  quality,  and  quantity  of  the 
mental  magery  on  the  one  hand  and  the  effi- 
ciency c  thought  on  the  other  seems  to  point  to 
at  leas  a  relative  independence.  The  most 
opulent lental  imagery  often  seems  to  be  almost 
empty  c  meaning,  while  the  scantiest  of  images 
may  beieavily  charged  with  thought.  As  the 
image  £ts  used  in  various  trains  of  thought 
there  sens  to  be  a  tendency  for  the  sensory 
element )  get  less,  and  the  meaning  it  carries 

1  Quoteoy  Professor  Pillsbury  in  "  Image  and  Meaning," 
the  Psycho'ical  Review,  vol.  xv. 


56      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

to  get  bigger.  In  purposeful  thinking  there 
is  an  economy  of  sensory  media.  As  we  grow 
older  our  mental  imagery  grows  scantier  and 
more  symbolic.  Galton  has  given  us  evicence 
which  shows  that  distinguished  men  of  sdence 
nearly  always  think  in  words.  Their  inages 
are  purely  verbal,  and  in  the  general  de:ay  of 
the  verbal  image  along  the  line  of  economy 
the  visual  feature  tends  to  disappear,  aid  pos- 
sibly the  auditory,  but  the  motor  features  seem 
to  form  an  irreducible  residuum. 

In  the  process  of  "learning  by  heart  "  there 
is  a  manifest  tendency  for  all  images  to  pas  into 
the  motor  type.      We  must  distinguish  beween 
memorizing  a  poem  so  as  to  be  able  to  repoduce 
it  by  thinking  closely  of  the  sense,  and  lerning 
it  by  heart  so  as  to  be  able  to  repeat  it  wit  such 
ease  and  fluency  that  there  is  no  strainat  all 
upon  the  attention.     Is  the  latter  kind  of  remory 
visual  or  auditory?     The  slightest  reflectin  will 
show   that    the   minimum   memory   necesary   to 
achieve  this  is  a  memory  of  a  fixed  sequnce  of 
movements  of  the  vocal  chords.     If  thesemove- 
ments    are    controlled   by  images    at    all  those 
images  are  of  the  kinaesthetic  type.    Othc  types 
of  images  are  present,  no  doubt,  but  motoimages 
(or  sensations)  seem  to  form  the  essentiafactor. 
The  process   becomes   an  acquired  autoatism. 
To  learn  by  heart  is  in  a  certain  sense  D  learn 
by    muscle.       The    same    is    true    of    pelling. 
Spelling  may  at  first  be  a  matter  of  th  eye  or 
the   ear  ;     but   ultimately   it   becomes    ainly   a 
matter    of    muscle.      Spelling   in    the  idult    is 


THE  NATURE  AND  ROLE  OF  MOTOR  IMAGERY       57 

largely  an  automatic  process.  One  test  of 
automatism  is  the  disorganization  caused  by  con- 
scious attention.  I  attend  to  my  mode  of 
walking  and  immediately  become  awkward  and 
inclined  to  stumble.  It  frequently  happens  that 
the  speller  who  hesitates  is  lost. 


THE   MOTOR   FACTOR   IN   EMOTION 
AND    VOLITION 

So  far  we  have  dealt  with  but  one  side  of  the 
human  mind — the  cognitive  side.  But  accept- 
ing the  ordinary  tripartite  division  of  mind  we 
can  not  only  think  :  we  can  also  feel  and  will. 
I  have  been  at  some  pains  to  show  that  thinking 
is  intimately  connected  with  doing  :  it  were 
comparatively  easy  to  show  that  the  same  is 
true  of  feeling  and  willing.  The  nature  of  that 
curious  plexus  of  feelings  which  we  call  an 
emotion  is  betrayed  by  its  very  name.  We 
talk  about  a  person  being  moved  to  anger,  to 
pity,  or  to  fear.  Outward  bodily  changes  become 
manifest.  Whether  the  James-Lange  theory  be 
true  or  not  the  "  feel  "  of  the  changes  in  muscle 
and  gland  constitutes  no  insignificant  part  of  the 
emotion.  Emotion  is  largely  the  mental  counter- 
part of  somatic  motion.  We  can  control  our 
thoughts  and  we  can  control  our  movements  ; 
but  have  we  any  direct  control  over  our  feelings? 
I  think  not.  The  content  of  consciousness  being 
given,  I  cannot  by  choosing  render  it  pleasurable 
or  painful.  If  I  feel  a  red-hot  poker  on  my 
hand  I  cannot  elect  that  the  feeling  should  be  a 

pleasurable  feeling.     Once  having  got  the  sensa- 

58 


THE  MOTOR  FACTOR  IN  EMOTION  AND  VOLITION    59 

tion,  I  am  helpless.  So  with  an  emotion,  which 
is  a  complex  of  sensations  caused  by  some  excit- 
ing percept  or  idea.  When  the  sensations  enter 
consciousness  they  bring  their  own  feeling  tone 
with  them.  We  can  neither  shut  it  out  nor  alter 
it.  Suppose  I  awake  in  the  night  and  hear 
burglars  at  work  downstairs.  If  I  let  my  mind 
dwell  upon  the  possibilities  of  personal  violence 
and  assume  the  crouching  attitude  of  fear,  then 
I  cannot  help  feeling  frightened.  There  are  only 
two  ways  of  curing  my  fright,  both  of  them 
indirect.  The  first  is  to  think  of  something 
else— rather  a  difficult  task.  The  second  is  to 
assume  the  bodily  attitude  characteristic  of 
courage.  This  is  Henry  the  Fifth's  advice  to 
his  soldiers  at  Harfleur — 

Imitate  the  action  of  the  tiger  ; 
Stiffen  the  sinews,  summon  up  the  blood, 
Disguise  fair  Nature  with  hard-favoured  rage; 
Then  lend  the  eye  a  terrible  aspect. 

Now  set  the  teeth  and  stretch  the  nostril  wide, 
Hold  hard  the  breath, 

and  so  forth.  If  I  adopt  this  advice  I  shall 
probably  get  rid  of  my  fear.  To  get  rid  of  the 
burglars  is  another  matter. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  of  the  physical  con- 
comitants of  an  emotion  only  half  is  within  our 
control — the  half  that  is  connected  with  the 
voluntary  muscles.  But  once  this  half  is  sup- 
pressed, the  other  half  will  tend  to  fade  away. 

It  is  my  duty  to  love  my  neighbour,  nay,  even 


60      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

my  enemy.  But  how  can  love  be  a  duty?  How 
is  it  possible  by  an  act  of  will  to  acquire  a  liking 
for  somebody  whom  I  instinctively  dislike? 
There  is  at  least  one  thing  that  I  can  do.  I  can 
act  towards  him  as  though  I  did  love  him.  And 
strange  to  say  the  kindly  feeling  will  follow. 
For  it  has  often  been  observed  that  we  like 
those  whom  we  have  benefited  better  than  we 
like  those  who  have  benefited  us.  A  warm  and 
loving  heart  is  not  entirely  the  gift  of  Nature  : 
it  is  at  least  in  part  the  reward  of  "  many  name- 
less unremembered  acts  of  kindness  and  of  love." 
But  there  is  more  that  I  can  do,  and  that  more 
depends  upon  the  fact  that  I  can  exercise  control 
over  my  thoughts.  Overt  acts  are  in  themselves 
insufficient.  St.  Paul  has  oft  been  quoted  in 
support  of  this  position  :  "  Though  I  bestow 
all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  though  I 
give  my  body  to  be  burned,  and  have  not 
charity,  it  profiteth  me  nothing."  I  must  get 
the  right  feeling  ;  and  to  get  the  right  feeling  it 
is  sufficient  to  get  the  right  mental  attitude — to 
acquire  the  habit  of  fastening  upon  the  lovable 
traits  in  my  fellow-man,  and  so  be  to  his  virtues 
very  kind  and  to  his  faults  a  little  blind. 

This  brings  us  to  volition.  What  is  that 
mysterious  power  which  we  call  the  will?  There 
are  some  who  deny  its  very  existence.  They 
contend  that  it  is  an  illusion,  as  the  ego  itself 
is  an  illusion.  There  is,  they  assert,  nothing 
but  the  stream  of  consciousness.  An  orderly 
array  of  ideas  come  and  go  according  to  certain 
fixed  laws.  And  there  is  no  soul  to  witness  the 


THE  MOTOR  FACTOR  IN  EMOTION  AND  VOLITION    61 

process.  The  mind  does  not  know  the  ideas  : 
the  ideas  simply  know  themselves.  The  ideas 
are  not  in  the  mind  :  they  are  the  mind.  To 
most  of  us  this  doctrine  is  incredible.  The 
man  who  hunts  for  his  ego  and  cannot  find  it 
is  engaged  on  the  same  quest  as  the  old  gentle- 
man who  went  on  searching  for  his  spectacles 
with  his  spectacles  on  his  nose  the  whole  while. 
There  are  others  who  believe  in  the  soul  but 
deny  that  it  has  any  authority  or  dominion.  It 
witnesses  the  panorama  of  consciousness,  but  has 
no  power  to  interfere  with  its  working.  It  stands 
aloof  as  an  impotent  spectator.  This  doctrine 
is  held  by  those  who  emphasize  the  physio- 
logical aspect  of  the  question,  who  believe  in 
the  inexorableness  of  the  law  of  cause  and  effect, 
and  who  deny  that  consciousness  can  have  any 
effect  upon  matter,  that  the  mind  can  ever  be 
the  cause  of  changes  in  the  brain.  There  are 
others  among  us  who  repudiate  the  intellectual 
arrogance  which,  having  found  certain  laws  in 
operation  in  the  physical  realm,  uses  them  as  a 
basis  for  dogmatizing  as  to  what  is  possible 
and  what  impossible  in  the  realm  of  conscious- 
ness. We  prefer  to  accept  the  plain  verdict  of 
consciousness.  There  is  a  soul,  a  self,  an  ego— 
—call  it  what  you  will — and  this  soul  is  no  mere 
passive  looker-on.  It  enters  into  the  melee  of 
ideas  and  is  an  important  factor  in  deciding 
the  issue.  Within  certain  obvious  limits  it  has 
the  power  of  choosing  its  own  experience.  It 
can  attend  to  certain  objects  of  thought  and 
withdraw  its  attention  from  others.  This  seems 


62      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

to    be    the    simplest    explanation    of    what    we 
generally  mean  by  will. 

In  the  following  brief  account  of  the  nature  of 
will  I  mainly  follow  James's  line  of  treatment. 
The  first  point  to  note  is  that  my  will  can  only 
act  through  my  muscles.      The  only  immediate 
outward  effect  it  can  possibly  produce  is  move- 
ment in  some  part  or  parts  of  my  own  body. 
Indirectly  it  can  do  more  ;    but  directly  it  can 
do  this  and  this  only.     To  produce  this  move- 
ment no  special  force  or  power  is  needed,  for 
ideas  themselves  (including,  of  course,  percepts) 
are  in  their  very  nature  impulsive  :    they  belong 
to  a  current  which  has  not  reached  its  terminus  : 
they    tend    to    work    themselves    out    in    bodily 
activity.      In   the  case  of  reflex  and  instinctive 
acts    this    tendency    is    obvious  :     certain    fixed 
arrangements  in  the  nervous  system  decide  the 
matter.    But  what  is  the  nature  of  the  mechanism 
by  which  voluntary  acts  are  carried  out?     Intro- 
spection  can   find  nothing   intervening   between 
the  thought  of  performing  a  movement  and  the 
movement  itself.      I   think  of  taking  my  watch 
out   of   my   pocket,   and  forthwith   the   thing   is 
done.      The   mere  idea  of   the   movement   is   in 
itself  sufficient,  provided  there  is  no  antagonistic 
idea  present  in  the  mind  at  the  same  time.     But 
the    idea    of    the    movement    before    it    actually 
takes    place    implies    images    left    by    previous 
movements.      How    did    I    originally   get    these 
images?      Obviously    through    movements    of    a 
random     or     reflex     character.        Spontaneous 
activities    are    an    essential   preliminary    to    the 


THE  MOTOR  FACTOR  IN  EMOTION  AND  VOLITION   63 

voluntary  life.  A  stock  of  motor  images  is 
necessary  before  the  will  can  begin  to  operate 
at  all.  But  what  happens  when  an  antagonistic 
idea  is  present,  when  I  wish  to  do  two  incom- 
patible things?  Do  the  two  ideas  fight  it  out 
among  themselves,  or  does  the  ego  step  in, 
and  put  its  veto  on  the  one  and  give  its  sanction 
to  the  other?  As  it  is  not  always  the  stronger 
impulse  that  wins  there  is  some  reason  for  think- 
ing that  the  ego  does  interfere.  However  that 
may  be,  the  fact  remains  that  one  of  the  move- 
ments will  be  inhibited.  This  process  of  in- 
hibition— of  checking  movement — is  of  the 
highest  import  in  the  development  of  intellect 
and  character.  For  the  will  is  trained  not  so 
much  by  doing  things  as  by  not  doing  them. 
To  refrain  from  action  often  requires  palpable 
effort.  A  tendency  to  cough  at  a  public  meet- 
ing cannot  always  be  checked  without  a  strong 
effort  of  will.  Where  there  is  less  organic 
stability  in  the  physical  basis  of  the  impulse  the 
effort  is  not  so  manifest.  But  we  are  constantly 
inhibiting,  we  are  constantly  putting  on  the 
brakes,  we  are  constantly  diverting  the  stream 
of  innervation  which  runs  from  every  idea  that 
enters  the  mind.  Sometimes  none  of  the  stream 
seems  to  escape,  and  the  energy  which  in  a 
more  primitive  type  of  mind  would  be  expended 
in  bodily  movement  becomes  dissipated  in 
thought.  All  progress  in  self-control  is  progress 
along  the  line  of  inhibition.  A  very  young 
child  acts  almost  entirely  upon  impulse.  But 
in  course  of  time  he  learns  to  check  those  move- 


64      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

ments  that  lead  to  painful  issues.  He  begins  to 
look  before  he  leaps,  to  think  before  he  acts. 
But  inhibition  is  of  gradual  growth.  It  pre- 
supposes experiences  gained  by  impulsion.  The 
very  reason  for  suppressing  a  movement  is  that 
its  consequences  are  known,  and  known  to  be 
undesirable.  Within  certain  limits  inhibition  in 
the  experienced  adult  is  favourable  to  contem- 
plation ;  in  the  inexperienced  child  it  is  favour- 
able to  slumber. 

Looked  at  purely  from  the  psychological  side, 
will  is  hardly  distinguishable  from  attention. 
Within  the  realm  of  consciousness  the  only 
control  the  mind  can  have  is  attentive  control. 
It  can  think  of  some  things  and  refuse  to  think 
of  others.  In  ordinary  cases  all  that  the  mind 
does  in  order  to  make  a  movement  real  is  to 
attend  to  the  idea  of  that  movement.  Tenacity 
of  purpose  means  stubborn  and  exclusive  atten- 
tion to  certain  salient  aspects  of  a  situation  or 
to  certain  ends  to  be  achieved.  And  as  in  the 
control  of  movements  inhibition  is  an  essential 
factor,  so  in  the  control  of  thought  non-attention 
is  an  essential  factor.  All  effectiveness  in  think- 
ing depends  upon  concentration,  and  concentra- 
tion depends  upon  inattention.  What  seems  an 
effort  to  attend  to  one  particular  thing  is  really 
an  effort  not  to  attend  to  anything  else.  To 
intensify  the  stream  of  thought  one  must  narrow 
the  current,  at  least  to  the  extent  caused  by  the 
withdrawal  of  energy  from  all  that  is  irrelevant.1 

1  See,  however,  Professor  Adams's  "  Exposition  and 
Illustration  in  Teaching,"  p.  156. 


THE  MOTOR  FACTOR  IN  EMOTION  AND  VOLITION    65 

But  I  have  already  dealt  with  attention  and 
shown  how  closely  it  is  connected  with  innerva- 
tion  of  the  muscles.  There  I  showed  that  the 
muscles  enabled  us  to  attend  ;  here  I  show  that 
attention  enables  us  to  move  the  muscles. 

The  upshot  of  our  inquiry  is  that  we  cannot 
look  at  the  human  mind  from  any  point  of  view 
without  having  the  fact  forced  upon  us  that 
motor  activity  is  of  vital  and  fundamental  im- 
portance ;  there  is  no  nook  or  cranny  of  the 
mental  structure  where  motor  elements  are  not 
found  to  enter  ;  there  is  no  mental  process  or 
mental  product  that  does  not  receive  some  sup- 
port from  muscular  experiences  ;  there  is  no 
emotion  or  volition  that  is  not  mediated  by  move- 
ment ;  there  is  no  intellectual  or  moral  progress 
that  is  not  in  some  way  connected  with  either 
the  promotion  or  the  inhibition  of  bodily  activity. 


THE   RELATION    BETWEEN    MOTOR 

DEVELOPMENT   AND    MENTAL 

DEVELOPMENT 

So  far  we  have  dealt  mainly  with  an  analysis 
of  the  mental  states  of  the  adult  with  a  view 
to  discovering  the  extent  to  which  motor  factors 
enter  into  their  composition.  In  applying  the 
knowledge  thus  discovered  to  the  interpretation 
of  the  mental  states  of  a  very  young  child  we 
are  liable  to  misread  the  signs.  It  is  an 
ancient  pitfall.  The  inadequacy  of  the  older 
psychology  arose  mainly  from  the  fact  that  it 
was  exclusively  concerned  with  the  adult  mind. 
In  the  study  of  this  mind  certain  more  or  less 
artificial  categories  of  faculties  and  senses  were 
arrived  at,  and  in  applying  these  categories  to 
the  mind  of  the  child  are  we  quite  sure  that  our 
procedure  is  logically  sound?  Do  we  not  read 
into  the  mind  of  the  young  child  what  is  only 
true  of  the  mind  of  the  adult?  When,  for 
instance,  a  man  bursts  into  tears  we  infer — and 
rightly  infer — that  his  emotions  are  violently 
stirred  ;  but  are  we  justified  in  assuming  that 
the  same  is  true  when  a  baby  cries?  We  take 
it  for  granted  that  the  same  overt  movement— the 
same  expression — is  an  index  of  the  same  mental 


MOTOR  AND  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT     67 

state,  whether  in  the  nebulous  mind  of  the  young 
child  or  in  the  highly  organized  mind  of  the 
adult.  Dr.  Dewey's  view  that  such  an  assump- 
tion is  quite  unwarranted  may  safely  be  accepted. 
We  want  some  other  principle  of  explanation  in 
studying  the  development  of  the  young  mind. 
The  mere  cataloguing  of  first  occurrences — when 
the  baby  first  smiled,  or  clenched  his  little  fist, 
or  changed  the  character  of  his  cry — is  of  little 
use  to  us  unless  we  can  find  out  what  these  acts 
really  express — what  sort  of  mentality  lies  behind 
them,  i 

We  seem  to  be  within  the  realm  of  fact  when 
we  say  that  generally  speaking  the  child's  move- 
ments, his  nervous  system,  and  his  mind  develop 
side  by  side.  As  he  grows  older  his  movements 
become  more  purposeful,  more  efficient,  better 
co-ordinated,  and  better  adapted  to  meet  the 
needs  of  his  widening  experience.  At  the  same 
time  his  nervous  system  is  getting  more  and 
more  complex,  new  connections  are  being 
established  between  sensory  and  motor  nerves, 
new  lines  of  traffic  are  being  set  up  between  the 
higher  and  lower  nerve  centres.  Parallel  with 
this  increase  in  neural  complexity  we  find  a 
corresponding  increase  in  mental  complexity. 
Are  we  justified  in  assuming  that  these  three 
things — bodily  activity,  nervous  system,  and 
mental  structure — grow  at  precisely  the  same 
pace?  Does  the  development  of  one  neces- 
sarily mean  an  equal  development  in  the  other 
two?  Roughly  speaking,  it  does — in  the  early 
1  See  King's  "  Psychology  of  Child  Development." 


68      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

stages  at  least.  It  must,  however,  be  interpreted 
dynamically  ;  they  grow  together.  Complexity 
of  neural  structure  may  or  may  not  signify  com- 
plexity of  mental  structure  ;  it  depends  upon 
whether  the  former  complexity  is  inherited  or 
acquired.  A  man  is  richly  endowed  in  brain 
and  nerves  when  the  arrangements  and  associa- 
tions therein  are  adequate  to  meet  the  various 
demands  of  the  environment.  Some  of  these 
arrangements  are  born  with  him  ;  they  subserve 
reflex  and  instinctive  movements.  Others  were 
established  by  himself  in  the  attempt  to  make 
his  movements  purposive  and  effective.  In  other 
words,  some  of  his  neural  wealth  is  inherited  and 
some  acquired.  It  is  only  his  acquired  neural 
wealth  that  indicates  actual  as  distinct  from 
potential  mental  wealth.  Before  we  can  tell  how 
much  intelligence  or  emotion  is  behind  a  certain 
complex  movement  we  must  first  find  out  to  what 
extent  that  movement  is  due  to  congenital  en- 
dowment. We  have  no  right  at  all  to  assume 
that  the  stereotyped  neural  arrangements  in  the 
bee  subtend  the  same  mental  angle  as  an  equally 
complex  neural  arrangement  in  the  boy  ;  nor 
yet  that  two  equally  well -organized  bits  of 
neural  machinery  in  the  boy  possess  equal  mental 
significance. 

The  one  characteristic  common  to  all  move- 
ments is  that  they  are  caused  by  stimuli,  these 
stimuli  coming  either  from  within  or  from  with- 
out the  organism  ;  and  the  aim  and  purpose  of 
the  movement  is  to  deal  in  some  way  with  the 
stimulus — to  remove  it  if  harmful,  to  retain  it 


MOTOR  AND  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT     69 

if  beneficial,  to  modify  it  so  as  to  satisfy  some 
need  of  the  organism.  In  the  case  of  reflex 
and  purely  instinctive  responses  the  neural 
mechanism  is  in  perfect  working  order  :  it  goes 
of  its  own  accord,  it  needs  no  interference  from 
a  guiding  intelligence.  But  the  baby  is  bom 
with  a  comparatively  small  number  of  these 
fixed  paths  of  motor  discharge,  and  the  tnost  that 
can  be  said  of  the  bulk  of  his  instincts  is  that 
the  physiological  arrangements  show  a  tendency 
to  take  a  certain  form,  but  are  capable  of  ample 
modifications.  They  are  only  partly  fixed.  In 
the  majority  of  cases  indeed  the  pre-arrange- 
ments  for  dealing  with  the  situation  are  inade- 
quate. The  baby  responds  to  the  stimuli,  but 
the  response  is  ineffective.  The  nervous  ex- 
citement being  drained  off  by  the  most  permeable 
channels,  the  resulting  movements  are  generally 
wide  of  the  mark.  They  fail  to  bring  about 
adaptation  :  they  do  not  meet  the  case.  Some- 
times he  responds  with  his  whole  body.  It  is 
only  by  experiment  that  he  finds  out  which 
movements  are  really  effective.  The  wrong 
movements  and  the  unnecessary  movements 
gradually  get  left  out,  and  the  right  response 
by  repetition  gradually  gets  stamped  in.  It 
frequently  happens,  too,  that  in  order  to  secure 
more  adequate  adaptation  he  has  to  break  up 
some  of  the  older  systems  ;  that  he  has  to 
inhibit — to  check  certain  responses  and  substi- 
tute others  ;  and  these  activities  of  inhibition 
and  guidance  are  perhaps  the  most  important 
of  all.  The  operator  at  the  central  exchange — 


70      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

the  intelligence  controlling  the  brain-centre — 
gets  more  and  more  practice  (although  there 
is  no  consciousness  of  it  as  such)  in  switching 
the  nerve  currents  from  inappropriate  to  appro- 
priate lines  of  motor  discharge.  But  for  this 
constant  vigilance  at  the  central  exchange  we 
should  soon  degenerate  into  mere  automata. 
For  every  movement  we  make  leaves  its  trace 
in  the  nervous  system,  and  every  repetition  tends 
to  deepen  that  trace.  The  action  gets  more 
and  more  stereotyped  until  at  last  the  nerve  re- 
sistance vanishes,  and  a  habit  is  fully  formed. 
It  is  thus  seen  that  we  gradually  construct  our 
habitual  lines  of  activity  out  of  random  impulses. 
The  sensori-motor  reaction  is  the  starting-point 
of  all  the  complex  muscular  adaptations  of  which 
we  are  capable.  We  start  our  lives  with  a  small 
number  of  ready-made  habits  which  we  call 
reflexes  and  instincts,  and  spend  our  lives  in 
adding  to  the  inherited  stock  by  making  for 
ourselves  new  ones.  The  raw  material  of  the 
new  habits  consists  of  random  movements,  and 
movements  got  by  the  disintegration  of  old 
complex  habits.  And  in  this  important  fact, 
that  we  can  break  up  old  habits  and  build  up 
new  ones,  consists  our  educability.  So  long  as 
there  is  constant  interference  with  the  couplings 
in  the  brain — so  long  as  there  is  activity  at  the 
central  exchange — so  long  is  there  resistance 
offered  to  that  fatal  drift  into  old-fogeyism 
against  which  we  are  warned  by  William  James. 
And  activity  at  the  central  exchange  means  in- 
tensity of  consciousness.  Let  us,  for  instance, 


MOTOR  AND  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT  71 

consider  what  happens  when  a  child  acquires 
skill  in  a  simple  operation  such  as  knitting. 
She  has  at  first  to  attend  very  closely  to  what 
she  is  doing.  She  makes  wrong  movements, 
finds  them  ineffectual  and  tries  others.  At  last 
she  succeeds  in  making  the  first  stitch.  The 
next  few  stitches  she  finds  somewhat  easier, 
but  she  cannot  for  a  moment  take  her  mind  off 
her  work.  If  she  does  she  is  certain  to  make  a 
mistake.  But  as  time  goes  on  the  stitches  get 
easier  and  easier,  and  she  is  gradually  able  to 
relax  her  attention.  Ultimately  she  will  be  able 
to  carry  on  the  process  without  thinking  about 
it  at  all.  The  act  has  become  automatic.  The 
amount  of  attention  required  has  been  gradually 
diminishing,  while  the  automatism  acquired  has 
been  gradually  increasing.  And  attention  merely 
means  the  mind  at  work  :  it  means  vigilance 
at  the  central  exchange  :  it  means  intensity  of 
consciousness.  It  is  obvious  that  activity  of 
mind  is  not  necessary  in  the  case  of  automatic 
movements — whether  in  the  form  of  instincts  or 
acquired  habits — for  these  can  go  on  by  them- 
selves ;  and,  in  accordance  with  the  general 
economy  of  nature,  it  is  probable  that  where  it 
is  not  necessary  it  does  not  exist.  But  it  is 
necessary — it  is  indispensable — when  new  situ- 
ations have  to  be  met,  and  new  connections 
made  in  the  brain.  And  it  is  just  here,  where 
one  would  naturally  expect  to  find  mental  activity 
and  growth,  that  one  actually  does  find  it. 
Whenever  bodily  movements  are  under  control, 
whenever,  that  is,  one  of  several  equally  per- 


72      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

meable  channels  of  discharge  is  chosen  as 
securing  a  better  adaptation,  there  do  we  find 
intelligence  at  work. 

In  a  series  of  articles  in  Mind  (1898) 
McDougall  contends  that  Consciousness  is  deter- 
mined by  the  novelty  of  the  reactions  between 
mind  and  the  environment.  It  is,  he  asserts, 
correlated  with  "  the  novelty  of  the  combina- 
tion of  nervous  processes/'  It  constantly  accom- 
panies the  "  acquirement  of  experience." 
Consciousness  and  experience  always  go  to- 
gether. This  is  in  accordance  with  the  position 
taken  up  in  this  book.  If  the  theory  is  well 
grounded  it  follows  that  there  can  be  no  mental 
growth  without  the  establishment  in  the  nervous 
system  of  new  lines  of  neural  discharge,  or  at 
least  a  modification  of  old  ones.  For  that  the 
mind  should  grow  without  conscious  experience 
is  inconceivable  ;  although  it  can  be  shown 
that  the  mind's  resources  may  be  increased 
without  conscious  experience,  if  among  its 
resources  may  be  included  facility  of  physio- 
logical adjustment.  An  act  practised  to-day 
may  be  performed  with  greater  facility  to- 
morrow without  any  intervening  practice. 

The  new  connections  made  among  the  neurones 
take  the  same  general  course  as  the  innate 
paths  ;  that  is,  they  tend  towards  the  muscles 
as  the  natural  goal  towards  which  the  neural 
impulses  flow.  In  the  case  of  very  young 
children  inhibition  is  comparatively  infrequent, 
and  the  appropriate  overt  movements  actually 
take  place.  Once,  however,  a  fairly  large  stock 


MOTOR  AND  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT     73 

of  the  commoner  types  of  adjustment  to  physical 
conditions  has  been  acquired  by  actually  carry- 
ing out  the  movements  involved  and  noting  the 
consequences,  the  possibility  of  mental,  as 
distinct  from  physical  experimentation  is  estab- 
lished. It  becomes  possible  to  recall  likely 
means  of  meeting  a  case,  to  think  out  their 
implications,  and  to  recognize,  without  actual 
trial,  whether  they  will  prove  efficacious. 

It  seems  therefore  reasonable  to  conclude 
that  the  younger  the  child  the  more  will  its  pro- 
gress in  motor  efficiency  serve  as  a  reliable  clue 
to  its  progress  in  mental  efficiency.  As  the  child 
grows  older  it  is  possible  that  the  two  kinds  of 
efficiency  may  widely  diverge  ;  although  it  is 
by  no  means  necessary  that  they  should. 

This  tentative  conclusion  is  supported  by  a 
consideration  of  the  methods  by  which  new 
adaptations  are  acquired. 

The  significance  of  a  complex  movement 
depends  not  merely  upon  whether  the  movement 
is  a  personal  acquisition  or  an  inheritance,  but 
it  also  depends— and  very  largely  depends— upon 
how  it  has  been  acquired.  There  are  three  main 
ways  by  which  an  act  may  be  learned  :  the 
method  of  trial  and  error,  of  imitation,  and  of 
reflective  thought.  The  first  method,  and  pos- 
sibly the  second,  are  common  to  man  and  brute  ; 
the  last  is  characteristically  human.  It  generally 
happens  that  all  three  methods  are  used  together. 
The  method  of  trial  and  error  unassisted  by 
reflection  is  slow  and  uncertain.  Imitation  is 
often  eked  out  by  trial -and-error  and  by  reflec- 


74     HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

tion.  The  most  rapid  and  effective  means  of 
bringing  about  adaptation  to  novel  conditions 
is  reason,  or  thinking  (in  the  narrower  sense  of 
the  word).  If  the  child  thinks  about  what  he  is 
doing — if  he  brings  the  ideas  he  has  acquired  to 
bear  upon  the  practical  problem  in  hand — he  is 
then  learning  in  the  best  way.  It  is  probable 
that  a  certain  amount  of  ideation  and  rudimen- 
tary judgment  is  from  early  infancy  concerned 
in  the  mastery  of  adaptive  acts.  Dewey  contends 
that  the  baby's  "  primary  problem  is  the  mastery 
of  his  body  as  a  tool  of  securing  comfortable 
and  effective  adjustments  to  his  surroundings, 
physical  and  social.  The  child  has  to  learn  to 
do  almost  everything.  .  .  .  These  operations  of 
conscious  selection  and  arrangement  constitute 
thinking,  though  of  a  rudimentary  type.  .  .  . 
The  development  of  physical  control  is  not  a 
physical  but  an  intellectual  achievement."  l 

The  extent  to  which  thinking  enters  as  a  factor 
in  the  control  of  movement  serves  as  an  index 
to  the  educational  value  of  the  movement.  A 
child  who  finds  out  for  himself  how  to  overcome 
a  certain  mechanical  difficulty  will,  unless  there 
has  been  too  much  "  hit  or  miss  "  about  it,  get 
more  intellectual  training  out  of  the  experience 
than  if  he  had  been  shown  how  to  proceed.  Self- 
activity  is,  in  fact,  an  important  factor  in  the 
acquisition  of  skill.  But  there  are  degrees  and 
kinds  of  mental  activities  corresponding  roughly 
with  the  three  levels  of  learning.  On  the  lowest 
level  experimentation  takes  place  in  the  per- 
1  Dewey,  "  How  we  Think,"  pp.  157,  158. 


MOTOR  AND  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT     75 

ceptual  field.  The  trial  and  error  process 
in  animals  is  overt.  Trial  movements  are 
actually  made  and  their  success  or  failure 
actually  felt.  But  there  are  no  free  ideas  :  the 
activity  is  perceptual  only.  But  it  is  essentially 
self -activity.  They  cannot  learn  by  being  shown 
how  to  perform  the  act.  They  can  learn  some- 
times by  being  put  through  the  movement  ;  but 
it  takes  a  longer  time  than  learning  by  their 
own  efforts.  It  is  doubtful  whether  animals 
ever  quite  rise  to  the  second  level  and  learn  by 
application  of  free  ideas.  If  imitation  takes 
place  it  is  perceptual  imitation,  and  it  can,  as  a 
rule,  only  occur  in  the  case  of  acts  to  which  the 
animals  are  instinctively  inclined.  They  cannot, 
except  in  rare  instances,  learn  entirely  new  acts 
by  imitation  ;  and  they  cannot  learn  acts  par- 
tially instinctive  by  imitation  except  under  the 
actual  stimulation  of  sense.  Children,  however, 
can  learn  non -instinctive  acts  by  imitation  ;  and 
can  carry  out  the  movements  under  the  stimulus 
of  free  imagery — can  imitate  to-day  what  they 
saw  yesterday.  Yet  here  again  self-activity  can- 
not be  dispensed  with.  They  must  repeat  the 
act  in  order  to  get  it  right.  The  experimenta- 
tion is  guided  and  abbreviated  by  imitation,  not 
superseded  by  it.  The  only  kind  of  learning, 
however,  which  brings  the  whole  mind  into 
operation  is  the  third  and  highest.  On  this  level 
it  is  necessary  for  the  learner  to  have  a  clearly 
defined  purpose  in  view  and  to  experiment 
mentally,  rather  than  actually,  in  devising  means 
towards  the  accomplishment  of  that  purpose. 


76      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

The  "  trial  and  error  "  has  been  transferred  from 
the  physical  to  the  mental  realm.  Some  writers 
limit  the  use  of  the  term  self -activity  to  this  last 
kind  of  learning  process — a  process  which  is 
guided  by  a  clearly  conceived  end.  In  this  sense 
of  the  word  the  greater  the  amount  of  self- 
activity  involved  in  the  mastery  of  an  adaptive 
act  the  greater  is  the  intellectual  significance  of 
the  act. 

If  this  be  so  one  would  expect  to  find  the 
degree  of  motor  skill  becoming,  as  the  child 
grows  older,  a  less  and  less  reliable  criterion  of 
his  intelligence.  For  not  only  are  his  interests 
likely  to  develop  in  directions  less  immediately 
concerned  with  bodily  activity,  but  we  do  not 
know  on  what  level  he  has  learnt  his  skilful 
movements.  In  the  case  of  adults  it  is  clear 
that  there  is  no  very  high  correlation  between 
motor  and  mental  efficiency.  There  is  indeed 
some  excuse  for  the  opinion  of  the  old  lady  who 
defined  a  genius  as  a  man  who  could  not  earn 
his  own  living  and  spilled  his  victuals  over  his 
clothes.  The  mental  ineptitude  of  certain  work- 
men highly  skilled  in  limited  directions  is 
balanced  by  the  physical  ineptitude  of  certain 
men  of  profound  erudition. 

With  a  view  to  discovering  to  what  extent,  if 
any,  this  divergence  between  motor  and  mental 
efficiency  is  observable  among  school  children, 
I  have  worked  out  by  Spearman's  formula  the 
correlation  between  general  intelligence  and 
proficiency  in  certain  forms  of  handwork  in 
three  different  types  of  elementary  schools. 


MOTOR  AND  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT  77 

School  A  is  an  average  type  of  London  Ele- 
mentary School.  The  general  intelligence  was 
estimated  by  the  head  teachers  and  the  class 
teachers,  and  was  based  partly  upon  success  at 
the  terminal  examinations  and  partly  upon 
mental  alertness  and  resource  shown  during  the 
ordinary  school  work.  In  assessing  the  pro- 
ficiency in  handwork,  marks  were  accorded  for 
such  subjects  as  drawing,  painting,  modelling 
in  clay  and  paper,  sewing,  and  in  the  case  of 
children  over  eleven,  for  woodwork,  or  cookery, 
laundry,  and  housewifery. 

School  B  is  situated  in  a  very  good  residential 
area  and  is  attended  by  a  class  of  children  con- 
siderably above  the  average. 

School  C  is  a  special  school  for  mentally 
defective  children,  where  the  whole  of  each 
afternoon  is  devoted  to  handwork.  The  school 
in  the  poorer  neighbourhood  (A)  had  in  the 
three  departments  twenty-one  classes,  and  the 
school  in  the  better  neighbourhood  (B)  thirty- 
two  classes.  Although  the  results  were  some- 
what unsteady,  the  tendency  in  both  schools  was 
identical.  The  correlation  coefficient  was  high 
in  the  lowest  class  of  the  infant  school  (about 
0-6),  and  there  was,  on  the  whole,  a  general 
decline  in  the  amount  until  the  highest  class  in 
the  senior  school  was  reached,  where  it  sank  to 
0-3.  Broadly  speaking  the  correlation  was 
positive,  and  diminished  with  age. 

In  the  school  for  mentally  defective  children 
the  two  aspects  of  school  work  were  much  more 
highly  correlated.  Indeed,  in  the  highest  of 


78     HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

the  three  classes  of  which  the  school  consisted 
it  reached  0-9.  This  result  does  not  mean  that 
the  children  manifest  a  high  degree  of  motor 
efficiency,  but  that  what  intelligence  they  possess 
concerns  itself  mainly  with  practical  activities. 
Their  interests  are  more  motor  than  mental.  It 
may  be  thought  that  the  high  correlation  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  handwork  forms  a  large  part 
of  the  curriculum  of  the  school.  But  two  signi- 
ficant facts  tell  against  that  theory.  The  first  is 
that  the  lowest  of  the  three  classes,  which 
consists  of  children  recently  drafted  from  the 
ordinary  schools,  manifests  a  correlation  quite 
as  high  as  the  other  two  classes  ;  and  the  second 
is  that  among  the  classes  of  backward  or 
retarded  children  in  schools  A  and  B  the  corre- 
lation is  much  higher  than  in  the  normal  classes. 

Assuming  these  figures  to  be  representative, 
we  seem  to  be  justified  in  drawing  the  general 
conclusion  that  for  children  of  elementary  school 
age  there  is  a  positive  correlation  between  motor 
and  mental  efficiency,  and  that  this  correlation 
broadly  tends  to  vary  inversely  with  the  degree 
of  mental  development.  The  correlation  is  ex- 
ceptionally high  among  children  whose  immature 
development  is  due  to  causes  other  than  youth. 

Mr.  Cyril  Burt,  in  his  experimental  tests  of 
general  intelligence,  found  a  marked  relation 
between  intelligence  and  accuracy  of  sensori- 
motor  reaction,1  a  result  which  accords  with  the 
statistics  given  above. 

1  See  British  Journal  of  Psychology,  vol.  iii.  (December 
1909). 


MOTOR  AND  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT     79 

The  results  need  verifying  in  other  schools, 
and  in  any  case  require  to  be  interpreted  with 
the  utmost  caution.  Before  we  can  validly  infer 
that  the  handwork  had  influenced  intelligence, 
or,  having  influenced  it,  had  less  and  less  effect 
as  the  child  grew  older,  we  must  first  answer 
at  least  three  questions  :  (a)  Is  the  amount  of 
correlation  indicated  above  higher  than  what 
normally  exists  between  all  forms  of  natural 
ability?  (b)  Does  the  high  correlation  mean 
that  the  connection  between  the  two  functions  is 
causal?  (c)  Is  not  the  decline  with  age  merely 
a  particular  instance  of  a  general  law,  viz.,  that 
the  correlation  between  abilities  lessens  as  those 
abilities  are  practised?  Many  investigations 
must  be  made,  and  many  years  must  pass,  before 
a  complete  answer  to  these  questions  can  be 
hoped  for. 

The  value,  too,  of  these  figures,  as  indeed  of 
any  statistics  of  a  similar  nature,  is  diminished 
by  the  fact  that  the  analysis  of  school  activities 
into  mental  and  motor  is  extremely  imperfect. 
All  the  activities  by  which  the  intelligence  of  a 
child  is  judged  contain  motor  elements,  and  all 
the  activities  by  which  skill  in  handwork  is 
assessed  contain  mental  elements.  And  different 
kinds  of  handwork  involve  different  degrees  and 
kinds  of  head  work.  Drawing,  for  instance,  as 
now  practised  in  the  schools,  depends  quite  as 
much  upon  accurate  observation,  and  an  appre- 
hension of  the  different  values  of  visual  signs  of 
solidity,  as  upon  the  skill  of  the  hand  in  repre- 
senting what  is  seen  or  imaged.  The  mental 


8o      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

operations  are  very  different  from  those  con- 
cerned in  such  an  exercise  as  knitting  or  cane- 
weaving  ;  and  equally  distinct  from  the  mental 
processes  involved  in  inventing  a  mechanical 
contrivance  (such  as  !a  simple  windlass,  or  a 
loom,  or  a  scientific  apparatus),  which  shall  do 
a  certain  predetermined  piece  of  work. 

In  considering  the  significance  of  these  rela- 
tionships the  following  points  should  be  borne 
in  mind  : — 

1.  Handwork,  although  an  extremely  impor- 

tant branch  of  motor  activity,  is  not 
the  only  means  of  expression  :  still  less 
is  it  the  only  basis  of  kinassthetic  ex- 
perience. 

2.  Skill  in  handwork  may  be  estimated  from 

more  than  one  point  of  view. 

3.  Motor  experiences  may  be  variously  utilized 

in  mental   constructions. 

The  tongue  as  well  as  the  hand  is  an  organ  of 
expression  which  enormously  helps  to  fashion 
our  thoughts.  Without  conventional  speech, 
indeed,  it  is  doubtful  whether  any  progress  at 
all  can  be  made  in  conceptual  thinking.  In  our 
investigation  of  the  mind  with  a  view  to  discover- 
ing motor  elements,  we  found  such  motor  ele- 
ments as  were  necessarily  involved  in  the  use  of 
the  sense  organs  to  have  an  important  bearing 
on  the  nature  of  the  percepts  resulting  from  the 
use  of  those  organs.  These  movements  are  not 
expressive  of  thought  in  the  sense  that  construe- 


MOTOR  AND  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT     81 

tive  movements  of  the  hand  are  expressive  of 
thought  ;  for  they  precede  the  mental  activity. 
Yet  are  they  important  constituents  of  our  mental 
make-up,  and  are  particularly  useful  in  the  main- 
tenance of  attention. 

The  three  important  factors  of  manual  skill 
are  speed,  accuracy,  and  fitness,  and  the  most 
important  of  these,  from  the  point  of  view  of 
mental  activity,  is  fitness.  Speed  and  accuracy 
are  largely  matters  of  mechanical  practice, 
while  the  suitability  of  the  object  for  the  purpose 
which  the  maker  had  in  view  is  a  matter  of 
intelligence.  Accuracy  and  "  finish"  should  be 
regarded  as  being  relative  to  purpose.  If  the 
constructed  object  meets  the  requirements  of 
the  case,  to  refine  upon  it  may  indicate  artistic 
appreciation,  but  does  not  necessarily  mean  in- 
creased intelligence.  A  very  rough  plan  made 
by  a  boy  to  indicate  the  route  from  his  house  to 
the  school  would  probably  signify  more  intelli- 
gence than  a  map  of  England  very  accurately 
copied.  For  the  purpose  of  demonstrating  the 
fact  that  the  three  angles  of  a  triangle  are  equal 
to  two  right  angles,  a  very  carelessly  drawn 
triangle  may  serve  as  well  as  an  accurately 
drawn  one  ;  although  there  may  be  cases  in 
which  careful  construction  will  reveal  a  fallacy 
in  reasoning,  as  in  Lewis  Carroll's  so-called 
proof  that  every  triangle  is  isosceles.  In  any 
case  the  product  considered  by  itself  is  but  a 
rough  indication  of  a  pupil's  skill  in  adapting 
means  to  ends  and  in  putting  his  own  ideas 
into  execution. 

6 


82      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

It  is  not  so  much  a  high  degree  of  skill  in 
a  limited  number  of  manual  operations  that 
counts  :  but  rather  the  variety  of  the  adapta- 
tions and  their  adequacy  to  meet  the  needs  of  the 
situation.  The  important  thing  is  that  the  young 
pupil  should  have  a  rich  and  vital  experience  of 
spacial  relations,  of  the  properties  of  a  variety  of 
materials,  and  of  the  operation  of  simple  physical 
laws,  and  should  gain  that  experience  as  far  as 
possible  by  bringing  his  intelligence  to  bear  upon 
his  material  environment.  Handwork  in  the 
school  is  a  means  to  that  end.  For  once  the 
sensory  experience  mediated  by  movement  is 
acquired  that  experience  may  be  used  indefinitely 
in  the  realm  of  abstract  thought.  It  is  im- 
possible to  judge  the  intellectual  superstructure 
by  the  extent  of  the  sensory  basis  upon  which 
it  is  reared.  So  much  depends  upon  the  use 
to  which  the  sensory  material  is  put  by  the 
mind.  The  constructive  aspect  of  handwork 
is  here  important.  For  the  mind  transfers  its 
knowledge  of  material  constructions  into  the 
ideational  realm  and  employs  it  as  a  means  of 
arranging  and  systematizing  its  thoughts  and 
of  carrying  out  trains  of  reasoning.  To  quote 
Bosanquet  :  '  "  Ultimately  the  condition  of  in- 
ference is  always  a  system.  And  it  will  help 
us  to  get  a  vital  notion  of  inference  if  we  think, 
to  begin  with,  of  the  interdependence  of  rela- 
tions in  space — in  geometrical  figures,  or,  to 
take  a  comfrionplace  example,  in  the  adjustment 
of  a  Chinese  puzzle  or  a  dissected  map."  We 
1  "  The  Essentials  of  Logic,"  p.  40. 


MOTOR  AND  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT     83 

are  all  acquainted  with  people  (and  they  are 
generally  very  efficient  thinkers)  who  rarely 
attempt  to  explain  anything  at  all  abstruse  with- 
out taking  out  a  piece  of  paper  and  arranging 
their  ideas  spacially. 

It  will  thus  readily  be  seen  how  it  is  that  as 
the  pupil  grows  older,  he  may  make  little  or 
no  progress  in  manual  dexterity  while  his  mental 
efficiency  may  increase  enormously  ;  and  how 
it  is  that  the  relation  between  the  two  kinds  of 
ability  differs  so  widely  in  different  individuals. 

The  whole  question  of  the  relation  between 
motor  ability  and  general  ability  is  complicated 
by  the  difficulty  of  ascertaining  the  precise 
nature  of  general  ability.  The  popular  belief 
in  its  existence  is  almost  universal — a  belief 
which  finds  emphatic  literary  expression  in 
Carlyle's  "  Heroes  and  Hero  Worship/'  A  gireat 
man  is  a  great  man  under  all  circumstances. 
If  Napoleon  had  not  been  a  great  warrior  he 
would  have  been  a  great  something  else.  The 
intellectual  and  moral  energy  of  a  man  is  a  given 
quantity,  and,  like  murder,  it  will  out.  If  it  does 
not  come  out  in  one  way,  it  will  in  another.. 
This  doctrine  of  the  vicariousness  or  interchange- 
ableness  of  abilities  cannot  be  accepted  without 
modification.  Professor  Spearman,  who  has 
done  much  to  elucidate  the  question,  has  put 
forward  statistical  evidence  which  points  to  cer- 
tain definite  conclusions.1  He  holds  that  mental 
abilities  are  of  two  kinds,  general  and  specific. 
General  ability  is  a  central  intellective  function 
1  See  British  Journal  of  Psychology,  vol.  v.  pp.  52-84. 


84      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

depending  on  the  general  fund  of  mental  energy, 
which  again  depends  on  the  general  fund  of 
brain  energy.  This  central  energy  is  expended 
in  a  variety  of  ways  according  to  the  specific 
structure  of  the  brain.  Thus,  brain  energy  de- 
termines general  ability,  and  brain  structure 
specific  abilities.  We  cannot  by  education  in- 
crease the  sum  total  of  cerebral  energy  ;  but 
we  can,  by  the  formation  of  habits,  alter  the 
structure  of  the  brain.  In  other  words,  general 
ability,  or  intelligence,  is  not  educable,  but 
specific  abilities  are.  Motor  abilities  constitute 
one  definite  group  of  these  specific  factors,  and 
although  they  can  in  themselves  be  trained,  and 
can  thus  be  made  to  improve  all  other  abilities 
into  which  they  enter  as  constituent  factors, 
they  can  have  no  effect  whatever  in  increasing 
the  central  fund  of  energy.  In  other  words, 
motor  training  does  not  improve  intelligence. 
But  when  we  consider  that,  according  to  this 
view,  no  training  of  any  kind  is  able  to  alter 
the  general  fund  of  intelligence,  it  is  clear  that 
the  extent  to  which  motor  training  influences 
other  abilities  still  remains  an  open  question. 
Nor  is  Dr.  Spearman's  doctrine  incompatible 
with  the  view  that  specific  training  may  have  a 
very  wide-reaching  effect.1 

It  is  clear  too  that  the  term  "  general  ability," 
as  used  by  Professor  Spearman,  is  not  quite 
equivalent  to  the  term  "  general  intelligence  "  as 

1  See  "  Qualified  and  Unqualified  Formal  Training,"  by 
Professor  Spearman,  Journ.  of  Exper.  Ped.y  vol.  ii.  No.  4, 
PP-  247-54- 


MOTOR  AND  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT     85 

it  is  understood  in  scholastic  circles.  A  man 
has  little  if  any  more  general  ability,  in  Professor 
Spearman's  sense,  at  forty  than  he  had  at  fifteen 
years  of  age  ;  and  yet  it  would  hardly  be  con- 
tended that  his  mental  efficiency  is  not  far 
greater.  His  interests  and  aptitudes  are  wider 
and  more  numerous  ;  he  has  more  resources, 
and  can  deal  more  effectively  with  the  various 
problems  and  difficulties  that  daily  life  presents. 
He  is  commonly  regarded,  in  fact,  as  being  more 
intelligent  ;  and  it  is  in  this  sense  only,  in  the 
sense  of  having  multiplied  the  channels  through 
which  the  central  energy  may  escape,  that  it 
is  here  claimed  that  general  intelligence  may 
be  improved  by  specific  training  in  handwork 
and  other  forms  of  motor  activity. 


FUNDAMENTAL    AND    ACCESSORY 
MUSCLES 

ON  a  priori  grounds  it  seems  as  though  the 
larger  and  coarser  muscles — the  piuscles  we  have 
in  comtaon  with  the  brutes,  the  muscles  con- 
cerned in  locomotion  and  the  swing  of  limb- 
should  be  the  first  to  develop.  Compared  with 
the  fine  and  intricate  muscles  of  the  hand  and 
throat,  the  large  muscles  of  the  trunk  and  limbs 
are  of  remoter  heritage  ;  their  control  is 
rendered  easier  by  the  fact  that  some  at  least 
of  the  co-ordinations  are  instinctive  ;  they  are 
more  closely  connected  with  those  adaptations 
which  are  immediately  vital.  Control  of  the 
finer  accessory  muscles  comes  later  in  the  history 
of  the  race,  and,  generally  speaking,  the  same 
order  seems  to  be  preserved  in  the  development 
of  the  child.  In  his  conquest  of  the  body  the 
bigger  muscles  are  first  brought  into  subjection. 
It  is  true  that  the  hand  is  used  from  the  first, 
but  there  is  no  delicate  adjustment  of  the  fingers, 
and  the  movements  start  from  the  elbow  or 
the  shoulder.  When  a  very  small  child  tries  to 
bring  about  fine  co-ordinations  he  signally  fails. 
He  often  tries  to  make  very  small  drawings, 
and  this  has  been  urged  as  an  objection  to  the 

86 


FUNDAMENTAL  AND  ACCESSORY  MUSCLES        87 

theory  here  expounded.  But  a  child  is  such  an 
incorrigible  experimentalist  that  he  will  try  any- 
thing. It  is  not  everything  that  a  child  delights 
to  do  that  promotes  healthy  growth.  He  likes 
to  wade  in  the  puddles,  to  eat  innumerable 
sweets,  to  stay  up  late,  and  to  Swagger  about 
with  a  cigarette  in  his  mouth.  Nor  is  it  quite 
certain  that  the  tendency  to  produce  very  small 
drawings  is  spontaneous  and  natural.  It  is  gene- 
rally found  that  a  child  who  draws  a  cat  as  big 
as  a  thimble  has  previously  been  taught  to  form 
letters  of  that  size.  The  teaching  of  writing, 
especially  of  small  writing,  before  the  teaching 
of  drawing  is  productive  of  much  mischief.  That 
a  child  should  exercise  his  larger  muscles  before 
he  is  required  to  exercise  the  finer  ones  is  a 
principle  which  is  now  almost  universally  ac- 
cepted. The  small  child  should  deal  with  big 
things.  It  is  the  more  massive  muscles  that 
are  as  a  rule  brought  into  use  in  games,  athletics, 
and  physical  drill. 


PLAY   AND    WORK 

THERE  is  much  variety  of  opinion  with  regard 
to  the  function  of  play  in  education.  There  are 
many  schoolmasters  who  regard  the  school  as 
a  place  where  the  pupils  are  to  be  imbued  with 
a  spirit  of  work,  and  where  play  must  be  re- 
garded as  a  reluctant  concession  to  mere  physical 
health.  The  distinction  between  work  and  play 
is  not  rendered  sufficiently  definite  by  stating 
that  the  former  is  engaged  in  for  the  sake  of 
its  consequences,  and  the  latter  is  engaged  in 
merely  for  its  own  sake.  "  The  true  distinction 
is  not  between  an  interest  in  activity  for  its  own 
sake  and  interest  in  the  external  result  of  that 
activity,  but  between  an  interest  in  an  activity 
just  as  it  flows  on  from  moment  to  moment, 
and  an  interest  in  an  activity  as  tending  to  a 
culmination,  to  an  outcome,  and  therefore  pos- 
sessing a  thread  of  continuity  binding  together 
its  successive  stages.  Both  may  equally  ex- 
emplify interest  in  an  activity  for  its  own  sake."  l 
Dewey  regards  play,  except  when  it  represents 
a  mere  overflow  of  physical  exuberance,  as  the 
domination  of  activity  by  meanings  of  ideas 
rather  than  by  the  sense  objects  actually  present. 
1  Dewey,  "  How  we  Think,"  p.  164. 


PLAY  AND    WORK  89 

When  the  child  begins  to  adopt  the  attitude 
of  work  he  is  no  longer  content  to  react  to  the 
meanings  which  the  things  suggest,  but  demands 
congruity  of  meaning  with  the  things  themselves. 
There  should  on  this  view  be  a  gradual  passage 
from  the  play  attitude,  which  is  the  characteristic 
attitude  of  infancy,  to  the  work  attitude  which 
characterizes  the  adult.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
a  false  antithesis  between  work  and  play  is 
fruitful  of  much  harm  in  the  school.  To  exclude 
either  is  fatal  to  sound  education.  To  regiard  the 
infant  school  as  a  place  where  children  learn 
by  play  and  the  senior  schools  where  they  learn 
by  work  is  equally  mischievous.  There  is  no 
abrupt  transition  from  one  attitude  to  the  other. 
"  When  the  play  of  the  child  becomes  suffused 
with  the  sense  of  a  higher  coercive  force  that 
compels  its  continuance,  even  though  the  caprice 
of  the  moment  would  lead  elsewhere,  it  is  trans- 
formed into  work."1  This  coercive  force  may 
arise  from  the  consideration  of  the  remoter  con- 
sequences of  the  activity  either  in  the  pleasure 
he  will  derive  from  the  product  or  from1  the 
approval  of  his  teacher  or  his  schoolfellows. 
Generally  speaking,  the  coercion  is  social  in 
character  and  leads  to  an  appreciation  of  the 
ethical  significance  of  "ought." 

Groos's  theory  of  play  as  a  native  impulse 
whose  biological  utility  is  preliminary  practice 
in  the  serious  pursuits  of  later  life  is,  on  the 
whole,  more  satisfactory  than  the  "  surplus 

1  Henderson,  "  Text- Book  in  the  Principles  of  Education," 
p.  409. 


QO      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

energy  "  theory  of  Schiller  and  Spencer  and 
the  "recreation"  theory  of  Lazarus.  Children 
play  because  their  instincts  drive  them  to  it. 
And  intellectually  it  has  enormous  value  in  the 
way  of  giving,  vivifying,  clarifying,  defining 
and  organizing  a  large  number  of  ideas  bearing 
upon  the  child's  physical  and  social  environ- 
ment. Looked  at  purely  from  the  point  of  view. 
of  mental  development,  the  most  important  of 
these  activities  is  the  imitative  play  of  young 
children.  This  kind  of  play  is  in  closest  touch 
with  the  group  of  thoughts  with  which  their 
minds  are  constantly  occupied.  The  child  of 
five  dwells  in  Wonderland.  The  commonest 
sights  and  sounds  have  for  him  "  the  glory  and 
the  freshness  of  a  dream. "  His  wonder  and 
admiration  find  expression  in  speech,  in  draw- 
ing, and  in  imitative  play.  A  little  girl  finds  a 
dolls'  tea-party  far  more  wildly  exciting  than 
the  real  tea-party  of  which  it  is  an  imperfect 
copy.  It  is  her  party.  It  is  she  who  has  to  do 
everything.  She  may  pour  out  imaginary  tea 
and  sweeten  it  with  imaginary  sugar.  Make- 
believe  may  invade  every  province  but  one — 
that  of  the  actions  involved.  These  at  least 
must  be  real.  It  is  through  them  that  she  fully 
and  completely  realizes  the  delirious  joy  of 
giving  a  tea-party  ;  it  is  through  them  that  her 
ideas  of  this  particular  social  function  gain 
clearness  and  precision.  This  is  the  period  of 
toys.  A  toy  forms  a  nucleus  about  which  a 
child's  activities  cluster.  If  it  fails  to  call  forth 
these  activities,  it  is  a  delusion  and  a  snare.  It 


PLAY  AND   WORK  Qi 

is  patent  to  all  who  have  observed  children  that 
their  appreciation  of  a  toy  has  nothing  to  do 
with  its  complexity.  A  miniature  motor-car  that 
goes  by  clockwork  may  at  first  excite  a  burst  of 
admiration,  but  there  is  no  wearing  quality  in  the 
joy  it  gives.  A  simple  wooden  cart  that  a  child 
can  drag  along  himself  will  afford  him  far  more 
permanent  pleasure.  The  essentials  are  present 
in  the  one  and  absent  in  the  other.  It  is  not 
the  doll  that  rolls  her  eyes  and  squeaks  that  is 
abidingly  dear  to  the  heart  of  the  little  girl, 
but  the  old  rag  doll,  the  doll  that  can  be  cuddled 
and  coaxed,  or  violently  smacked  and  put  to 
bed.  In  fact,  the  value  of  a  toy  depends  not 
upon  what  it  does,  but  upon  what  can  be  done 
with  it.  It  follows  that  all  automatic  mechanism 
in  a  toy  tends  to  rob  it  of  its  raison  d'etre. 
Mechanical  toys,  which  were  really  invented  for 
the  benefit  of  the  rich  uncle  rather  than  the 
gift -receiving  nephew,  should  be  ruthlessly 
abolished.  Nor  should  a  child  be  allowed  to 
buy  a  toy  which  he  could  conveniently  make 
for  himself.  In  this  respect  the  boys  of  the  last 
generation,  who  made  the  bulk  of  their  own 
toys  with  the  indispensable  jack-knife,  possessed 
an  advantage  over  the  boys  of  this  generation. 
Simplicity  or  even  crudeness  in  a  plaything  is 
often  more  of  a  merit  than  a  defect.  It  leaves 
a  wider  scope  for  imagination,  and  a  bigger 
margin  for  skill  on  the  part  of  the  player. 

In  these  early  games,  with  or  without  toys, 
the  child  is  realizing  his  social  self,  and  is 
setting  up  rough  muscular  co-ordinations  which 


92    HANDWORK:  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

are  not  only  useful  in  themselves  but  also  form 
a  basis  for  further  and  finer  development.  At 
this  stage  skill  and  strength  are  of  slight  im- 
portance. Make-believe  and  a  general  right- 
ness  of  action  are  the  essential  desiderata. 

After  the  child  reaches  the  age  of  seven  the 
character  of  his  play  undergoes  a  change.  He 
for  the  first  time  begins  to  distinguish  between 
play,  which  is  an  end  in  itself  and  always 
pleasurable,  and  work,  which  is  a  means  to  an 
end — a  means  that  is  sometimes  distinctly  un- 
pleasant. His  games  are  no  longer  predomi- 
nantly imitative.  They  become  more  or  less 
self-contained,  and  their  social  significance 
changes.  He  has  reached  the  stage  of  athletic 
sports,  which  are  of  two  distinct  kinds — that  in 
which  he  plays  for  himself,  and  that  in  which 
he  plays  for  his  side.  In  the  one  case  his  own 
personal  skill  or  prowess  is  the  sole  considera- 
tion ;  in  the  other  subordination  to  the  success 
of  the  team  is  superadded.  The  latter  is  unques- 
tionably the  more  valuable  ;  but  whichever  of 
the  two  kinds  is  taken  up — whether  individual 
or  organized  sport — its  intellectual  import  is 
debatable.  The  muscular  co-ordinations  are  in 
the  main  those  in  which  the  larger  muscles  are 
involved.  The  activities  are  often  of  a  kind 
in  which  the  lower  animals  excel.  No  amount 
of  training  would  enable  a  boy  to  run  as  fast 
as  a  horse,  or  to  jump  as  far  as  an  antelope. 
A  sea-gull  can  catch  a  small  fish  thrown  into 
the  air  with  greater  skill  than  a  cricketer  can 
catch  a  ball.  It  is  admitted  that  every  gain 


PLAY  AND   WORK  93 

in  muscular  efficiency  involves  perhaps  some 
sort  of  gain  in  mental  efficiency  as  well  ;  but 
that  gain  may  be  great  or  small.  The  mere 
acquisition  of  skill  in  a  simple  overt  movement, 
such  as  hitting  a  ball  with  a  bat,  does  not  in 
itself  mean  much.  There  is  no  need  for  con- 
sciousness to  rise  above  the  perceptual  plane. 
The  batsman  arrives  at  his  skill  purely  by  trial 
and  error.  He  fumbles  after  the  right  response. 
When  he  misses  the  ball,  he  knows  not  why 
he  misses  it — he  merely  hopes  for  better  luck 
next  time. 

But  it  may  well  be  urged  on  the  other  side 
that  the  mere  striking  of  the  cricket  ball  is  but 
one  element  in  the  game,  and  that  to  play  the 
game  well  requires  mental  alertness,  initiative, 
and  judgment.  It  has,  moreover,  been  claimed 
that  the  player  learns  to  take  a  licking  with 
good  humour  ;  he  gets  to  recognize  himself 
as  part  and  part  only  of  an  organized  system  ; 
he  learns  to  subordinate  his  own  wishes  and 
actions  to  the  general  good  of  the  whole  ;  in 
fine,  he  receives  an  excellent  preparation  for 
citizenship.  That  there  is  a  considerable 
measure  of  truth  in  this  contention  will 
readily  be  conceded  if  the  degree  of  validity 
which  will  be  ascribed  later  to  the  doctrine  of 
formal  training  be  accepted.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  certain  habits  are  cultivated  in  the  playing 
field  which  tend  to  foster  a  social  spirit  and  to 
serve  as  some  sort  of  preparation  for  citizen- 
ship. 

The  value  of  athletic  sports  is  not,  however, 


94      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

merely  indirect.  They  not  only  afford  a  field  for 
the  indirect  cultivation  of  good  social  habits, 
but  they  directly  prepare  for  and  lead  up  to  the 
avocations  of  adult  life.  Moreover,  they  conduce 
enormously  to  the  maintenance  of  physical 
health  ;  and  in  promoting  healthy  physical 
growth  they  provide  a  favourable,  nay,  an  indis- 
pensable condition  for  healthy  mental  growth. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  physical  drill.  It  is  a 
corrective  to  the  somewhat  unhealthy  conditions 
under  which  collective  instruction  must  neces- 
sarily be  carried  on.  Looked  at  purely  from 
the  standpoint  of  systematic  muscle  training, 
it  is  superior  to  play,  for  the  exercises  may  be 
so  framed  as  to  train  all  the  voluntary  muscles 
in  any  proportion.  But  boys  and  girls  never 
get  so  keen  on  drill  as  they  do  on  games.  The 
mental  exhilaration  throws  the  balance  indubit- 
ably in  favour  of  games. 


HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIVE  FORM 
OF  MOTOR  ACTIVITY 

IT  will  be  noted  that  among  the  things  that  a 
man  can  do  and  an  animal  cannot,  two  stand  pre- 
eminent— he  can  speak  and  he  can  use  his  hands. 
It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  his  superiority 
over  the  beasts  is  unconnected  with  these  two 
kinds  of  activity.  Neither  kind  is  instinctive. 
Each  has  to  be  acquired  by  persistent  effort 
on  the  part  of  the  individual.  A  baby  babbles 
in  almost  precisely  the  same  way,  whatever 
nationality  he  belongs  to.  A  French  baby  has 
no  congenital  predisposition  to  produce  nasal 
sounds,  nor  a  German  baby  to  produce  gutturals. 
Each  has  to  learn  the  language  for  himself,  to 
build  up  the  delicate  muscular  co-ordinations 
for  himself,  by  pure  imitation  of  his  elders.  And 
as  with  vocal  co-ordinations  so  with  manual  co- 
ordinations. A  child  inherits  few,  if  any,  fixed 
modes  of  using  his  hands.  All  the  various 
kinds  of  manual  dexterity,  from  driving  a  nail 
to  playing  the  piano,  have  to  be  learnt  de  novo 
by  every  child  born  into  the  world.  Here  then, 
if  anywhere,  in  vocal  and  manual  activities,  do 
we  find  a  fruitful  field  for  the  promotion  of 
mental  growth.  The  multitudinous  co-ordina- 

95 


96      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

tions  of  which  the  fine  lingual  and  manual 
muscles  are  capable,  render  the  vista  of  im- 
provement indefinitely  wide  and  extensive.  The 
possibilities  are  practically  inexhaustible.  Never 
does  one  come  to  the  end  of  the  tether  in  acquir- 
ing! skill  in  speech  and  handcraft.  The  man 
who  is  fluent  in  many  languages  is  inarticulate  in 
many  more.  The  wonderful  hand  of  Velasquez 
would  falter  on  the  harp,  and  Rubinstein  would 
bungle  at  a  picture.  As  media  of  instruction 
speech  and  handwork  cannot  be  surpassed.  But 
there  are  cogent  reasons  for  regarding  the  hand 
as  in  some  respects  a  more  important  instrument 
for  mental  development  than  the  tongue. 
Speech  comes  comparatively  late,  and  takes  no 
part  in  forming  the  earliest  impressions  on  the 
child's  mind.  But  his  hand  has  been  active 
from  the  day  of  his  birth.  It  is  probably  the 
first  sense  organ  that  is  brought  into  use,  for 
during  the  first  few  weeks  of  his  life  neither 
his  eyes  nor  his  ears  are  of  any  service  to  him. 
It  is  in  touching  and  grasping  things  that  the 
first  vague  awareness  of  a  systematic  world 
comes  into  being.  It  is  in  the  manipulation  of 
objects  that  his  ideas  are  first  formed  and 
moulded,  and  he  gains  a  notion  of  the  distinction 
between  himself  and  the  rest  of  the  world.  It 
is  indeed  probable  that  a  child's  first  ideas  are 
not  ideas  of  objects  but  of  actions  to  be  per- 
formed with  respect  to  objects.  Even  in  later 
childhood  the  tendency  i,s  to  fix  upon  the  dynamic 
aspect  of  an  object.  A  boy,  as  Binet  and  others 
have  observed,  always  defines  a  thing  by  its  use. 


HANDWORK  AS  EDUCATIVE  97 

To  him  a  stone  is  not  an  indurated  mass  of 
earthy  matter  but  a  thing  to  throw  at  a  bird. 
A  little  girl,  with  this  tendency  strong  upon  her, 
once  defined  an  average  as  a  thing  for  hens  to 
lay  eggs  on.  A  child's  thoughts  are  thoughts  of 
doing  ;  rarely  are  they  thoughts  of  being.  And 
in  doing  things  the  hand  is  all-important.  The 
vocal  organs  are  used  almost  exclusively  for 
expression  ;  the  hand  is  used  for  impression  as 
well.  It  investigates  and  exploits  the  environ- 
ment, and  the  knowledge  it  conveys  is  suffused 
with  a  strong  sense  of  reality.  The  sounds  of 
the  voice  perish  almost  in  their  birth  :  their 
life  in  perceptual  consciousness  is  too  brief  to 
be  of  much  import  in  itself  ;  but  the  works  of 
the  hand  are  abiding.  They  crystallize  the 
thoughts  of  the  race  and  mark  the  progress  of 
humanity.  Take  away  from1  our  lives  everything 
that  is  directly  and  indirectly  the  work  of  the 
human  hand,  and  we  are  immediately  reduced 
to  the  most  primitive  conditions  of  savagery. 
The  obvious  advantages  of  speech  as  a  means 
of  social  communication  and  an  instrument  of 
conceptional  thought  need  not  here  be  insisted 
on.  It  may,  however,  be  pointed  out  that  the 
use  of  the  hand  for  gesture  language  probably 
preceded  the  use  of  the  tongue  for  conventional 
language,  and  prepared  the  way  for  it.  More- 
over, the  two  functions  have  probably  a  close 
physiological  connection,  as  will  be  shown  later 
in  the  section  on  Ambidexterity.  Language  has 
always  formed  an  essential  part  of  the  training  of 
the  young,  although  it  is  too  often  a  foreign 

7 


98     HANDWORK:  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

tongue,  and  is  in  any  case  treated  far  too 
formally.  There  is,  in  fact,  a  tendency  to  deal 
with  language  in  separation  from  the  living 
thought  which  finds  in  it  appropriate  embodi- 
ment. The  one  branch  of  school  instruction 
which  aims  specifically  at  increasing  the  motor 
efficiency  of  the  children  is  handwork.  This 
subject  does  not,  of  course,  cover  the  whole  of 
the  child's  motor  activities,  but  the  hand  is 
regarded  as  the  main  organ  of  the  muscular 
sense.  These  important  muscular  adjustments 
of  the  senses  which  were  shown  to  form  an 
essential  part  of  every  percept  are  in  the  main 
excluded.  It  remains,  therefore,  to  justify  more 
fully  the  claims  of  handwork  as  a  medium  of 
education. 

What  is  the  amount  and  kind  of  evidence  sup- 
plied by  educators  who  have  introduced  manual 
training  into  the  school  curriculum?  In  the 
bulk  of  the  elementary  schools  boys  over  eleven 
years  of  age  receive  instruction  in  woodwork 
for  one  half-day  a  week,  and  there  is  a  consensus 
of  opinion  among  the  teachers  concerned  that 
the  children  receive  intellectual  benefit  there- 
from. There  is  a  general  -belief  that  the  ordinary 
academic  work  is  done  better  than  it  was  before 
instruction  in  woodwork  was  introduced.  Within 
the  last  few  years  various  forms  of  hand- 
work have  been  taken  up  in  the  lower  classes  of 
several  senior  schools  with  which  I  am  officially 
connected,  and  the  children  appear  to  have  been 
rendered  brighter  and  more  intelligent.  They 
unquestionably  take  a  much  greater  interest  in 
their  schoolwork. 


HANDWORK  AS  EDUCATIVE  99 

The  system  of  drafting  mentally  defective 
children  into  special  schools  where  they  are 
mainly  trained  in  handwork  has  proved  a 
great  success.  I  have  seen  quite  remarkable 
cases  of  mental  development  brought  about  by 
this  means  after  all  other  means  had  failed. 

Sir  Harry  Reichel  gives  a  striking  instance 
of  the  way  in  which  manual  training  had  im- 
proved the  general  work  at  Cheetham's  Hos- 
pital School,  an  old  endowed  Bluecoat  School. 
An  experiment  was  tried  for  a  year,  during 
which  half  the  boys  attended  a  course  of  sys- 
tematic handwork  and  the  other  half  devoted 
the  whole  time  to  the  ordinary  studies.  "  At 
the  close  came  the  test  examination,  and  then 
it  appeared  not  only  that  the  boys  who  hald 
devoted  four  hours  less  a  week  to  book  study 
were  not  behind  the  others  in  any  of  the  book 
subjects,  but  that  in  the  mathematical  part  they 
were  markedly  in  front  of  them,  more  par- 
ticularly in  Geometry."  * 

Sir  John  Gorst,  in  an  address  given  at  Hull, 
on  April  13,  1909,  spoke  as  follows  : — 

"  I  was  talking*  a  week  or  two  ago  to  one  of 
the  most  successful  headmasters  of  a  public 
school  in  this  country,  and  he  told  me  that  he 
had  set  his  face  against  the  common  practice 
of  public  schools.  If  boys  could  not  keep  up  to 
the  rest  of  their  class  in  the  classics  and  mathe- 
matics it  was  thought  to  be  detrimental  to  the 
school,  and  better  for  them  and  for  the  school 
itself  that  they  should  be  withdrawn.  This 

x  Address   to    Scottish   Sloyd   Association,  May  28,    1909. 
See  also  Educational  Handwork  for  September  1909. 


ioo      HANDWORK  AS   AN  EDUCATIONAL   MEDIUM 

gentleman  told  me  he  had  set  his  face  against 
the  practice,  and  in  the  school  of  which  he  is 
headmaster  he  had  established  a  technical 
department,  and  the  boys  who  were  behind  the 
rest  in  their  classics  were  no  longer  sent  away 
from  school,  but  were  sent  into  the  technical 
department  ;  and  he  said  extraordinary  results 
had  followed.  He  had  been  quite  astonished 
that  some  of  the  supposed  stupid  boys  when  they 
got  to  mechanical  work  were  positively  geniuses 
—and,  far  from  being  the  worst  intellects  in  the 
school,  they  were  often  the  best.  He  had  found 
boys  who  had  failed  in  the  ordinary  classes  to 
appreciate  or  to  understand  mathematics,  as  soon 
as  they  used  mathematics  in  joinery  or  carpentry 
or  some  other  technical  work,  not  only  become 
efficient  in  that  particular  branch,  but  go  back 
into  school  and  do  its  mathematics  as  well  as 
anybody  else.  Then,  besides  the  experience 
which  I  have  just  mentioned  of  that  English 
headmaster,  there  is  the  extraordinary  change 
which  has  been  made  by  that  great  German 
educator,  Dr.  Kirschensteiner,  in  the  schools  of 
Bavaria.  He  was  so  impressed  with  the  great 
importance  of  work  as  a  foundation  of  know- 
ledge, that  he  has  now  transformed  all  the  public 
elementary  schools  in  Munich  into  work  schools, 
where  the  business  of  the  school  is  doing  a 
certain  kind  of  work,  and  upon  that  manual 
instruction  all  knowledge  in  the  school  is  en- 
grafted. He  describes  in  a  report  he  has  made 
the  extraordinary  change  in  the  children  in  the 
school.  Instead  of  being  listless,  instead  of 


HANDWORK  AS  EDUCATIVE  101 

disliking  school,  they  are  now  active  ;  they  delight 
in  school  hours,  they  go  to  school  with ,  the 
greatest  possible  pleasure,  and  enjoy  themselves 
all  the  time  they  are  there,  and,  what  is  perhaps 
still  more  remarkable  is  that,  after  the  school 
age,  they  take  the  greatest  possible  pleasure  in 
the  continuation  of  their  studies.  They  have 
not  to  be  driven  to  the  continuation  school, 
they  go  on  their  own  accord  to  carry  on  the 
pursuit  of  knowledge  to  which  they  have  become 
so  attached  during  their  school  years." 

Such  is  the  nature  of  the  practical  evidence 
of  the  value  of  handwork,  and  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  it  is  meagre  in  quantity  and  poor  in 
quality.  It  partakes  too  much  of  the  nature  of 
opinion  and  hearsay,  and  too  little  of  the  nature 
of  practical  proof. 

I  venture,  therefore,  to  present  here  one  or 
two  types  of  evidence  of  a  statistical  and  ex- 
perimental nature,  slight  enough  in  them'selves, 
but  sufficient  to  suggest  other  experiments  and 
to  indicate  the  kind  of  testimony  likely  to  carry 
weight. 

The  most  trustworthy  record  we  possess  of 
the  relative  efficacy  of  the  teaching  in  the 
middle  of  the  London  elementary  schools  is 
provided  by  the  marks  obtained  at  the  Junior 
County  Scholarship  examination  of  the  London 
County  Council,  regard  being  had  to  the  pro- 
portion of  children  presented  in  each  school. 
Of  the  schools  which  I  knew  best  I  selected 
five  where  the  most  handwork  was  taken  ;  and 
I  compared  the  marks  obtained  in  those 


102    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

schools  in  February  1909,  before  handwork 
was  introduced  into  any  of  them,  with  the 
marks  obtained  in  November  1912.  The 
former  examination  was  more  difficult  than 
the  latter,  and  it  was  necessary  to  standardize 
the  results  before  a  fair  comparison  could  be 
made.  The  first  four  schools  were  attended 
by  boys,  and  the  fifth  by  girls.  Comparing 
the  standardized  marks,  there  was  in  school 
A  a  loss  of  4  per  cent.,  in  school  B  a  loss  of 
2j  per  cent.,  in  school  C  a  gain  of  50  per  cent., 
in  school  D  a  gain  of  26  per  cent.,  and  in 
school  E  a  gain  of  12  per  cent.  The  loss  in 
school  B  was  partly  explained  by  the  larger 
number  of  children  presented  (sixteen  in  1909 
and  twenty-one  in  1912),  and  the  gain  in  school 
C  by  the  smaller  number  presented  (twenty- 
three  in  1909  and  fifteen  in  1912).  In  the 
other  schools  the  numbers  were  about  equal 
for  both  examinations. 

More  definite  evidence  is  afforded  by  a  com- 
parison of  these  five  departments  with  the 
corresponding  departments  of  the  same  schools 
attended  by  children  of  the  opposite  sex. 
School  A,  for  instance,  is  a  boys'  department. 
In  the  girls'  department  on  the  same  premises 
no  handwork  is  taken.  Although  on  the  whole 
the  handwork -taking  departments  presented 
more  children  than  the  other  departments,  the 
average  marks  obtained  were  in  every  instance 
higher.  The  actual  percentages  of  advantage 
were  twenty-five,  one,  sixty-five,  thirty,  and 
four,  respectively. 


HANDWORK  AS  EDUCATIVE  103 

I  admit  the  meagreness  of  the  data  and  the 
presence  of  certain  unsatisfactory  elements  in 
the  grounds  of  comparison,  but  the  evidence, 
such  as  it  is,  tends  to  support  the  view  that  hand- 
work has  the  effect  of  raising  the  standard  of 
efficiency  in  the  academic  branches  of  study. 

I  will  give  one  definite  instance  of  the  ad- 
vantage of  learning  by  doing  over  learning  by 
listening.  About  a  year  ago  an  ingenious  piece 
of  apparatus  for  teaching  fractions  was  brought 
to  my  notice,  and  I  was  empowered  to  test  its 
efficacy  by  experimenting  in  one  of  the  London 
elementary  schools.  A  large  mixed  school  was 
chosen  where  the  headmaster  took  an  excep- 
tional interest  in  mathematical  education.  The 
only  classes  in  this  school  where  fractions  had 
not  been  dealt  with  at  all  were  the  lowest  two, 
consisting  of  boys  and  girls  about  eight  years 
of  age.  All  the  brighter  of  those  children  were 
put  into  class  A,  and  the  rest  formed  class  B. 
For  six  months  both  classes  worked  at  pre- 
cisely the  same  scheme  of  fractions  for  pre- 
cisely the  same  timfc  per  week.  Indeed,  the 
conditions  of  study  were  as  similar  as  possible, 
except  that  class  A  (the  brighter  class)  was 
taught  by  means  of  the  apparatus,  which  was 
manipulated  and  explained  by  the  teacher, 
while  class  B  (the  duller  class)  was  allowed  to 
measure  in  fractions,  to  cut  out  pieces  of  paper, 
to  compare  them  by  superposition,  and  so  forth. 
It  must  be  understood  that  the  apparatus  used 
was  really  as  admirable  a  device  as  could 
possibly  be  conceived  for  rendering  the  equi- 


104    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

valence  of  fractions  and  the  simple  operations 
perfectly  clear.  And  yet  when  the  two  classes 
(fifty-four  children  in  one  and  fifty-two  in  the 
other)  were  tested  by  me  after  six  months' 
time,  class  B  did  better  than  class  A.  Of  ten 
questions  set,  both  classes  got  the  same  marks 
for  three,  class  A  got  higher  marks  for  two, 
and  class  B  higher  marks  for  five.  Enormous 
as  was  the  advantage  of  superior  natural  in- 
telligence, it  was  in  this  contest  outweighed 
by  the  advantage  of  learning  by  doing. 

The  next  piece  of  evidence  I  wish  to  bring 
forward  has  reference  to  the  general  attitude  of 
the  pupils  to  the  school  as  reflected  in  their 
conduct  and  diligence.  It  points  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  introduction  of  handwork  into 
a  school  tends  to  reduce  the  necessity  for 
corporal  punishment.  This  tendency  is  typically 
shown  by  the  records  of  school  D  referred  to 
above.  Although  it  is  attended  by  a  good  class 
of  boys,  the  school  had  under  the  previous  head- 
master attracted  attention  by  the  inordinate 
number  of  cases  of  punishment.  The  rec'ord 
for  the  last  six  years  is  as  follows  : — 

Year 1908     1909     1910     1911     1912     1913    (ist  half) 

No.  of  cases     1406     1070     746      745      521      280 

In  1909  the  school  was  increased  in  size,  and 
there  was  a  change  of  headmaster.  Since  1910 
the  personnel  of  the  staff  has  remained  ur\- 
changed  ;  yet  in  1912,  at  the  beginning  of 
which  handwork  was  introduced,  there  was  an 
immediate  drop  in  the  number  of  punishments. 


HANDWORK  AS  EDUCATIVE  105 

In  school  C,  where  an  increasing  amount  of 
handwork  has  been  taken  since  1911,  the 
number  of  entries  in  the  punishment  book  are 
again  seen  to  decrease,  thus — 

Year   1911    1912    1913  (ist  half) 

No.  of  cases 530    502     134 

In  school  A,  where  handwork  has  been 
taught  for  a  somewhat  longer  period,  the  same 
tendency  is  observable  : — 

Year       1910        1911         1912 

No.  of  cases 213  190          176 

The  other  two  schools  afford  no  indication 
one  way  or  the  other  ;  because  in  school  E  (a 
girls'  school)  the  number  of  punishments  has 
always  been  very  small,  and  in  school  B  the 
record  of  punishments  was  inordinately 
swelled  last  year  through  an  exceptional 
number  of  out -of -school  offences. 

Other  inquiries  which  I  have  made,  and 
which  need  not  be  recorded  here,  fully  con- 
vince me  of  the  truth  of  the  general  rule  that 
punishments  tend  to  decline  as  manual  occupa- 
tions increase.  And  they  decline  through  the 
removal  of  the  worst  and  most  disheartening 
type  of  offence — insubordination  to  the  teacher 
and  hostility  towards  the  very  spirit  and  pur- 
pose of  schooling.  Indeed,  handwork  helps  to 
reconcile  the  pupil  to  the  school.  His  general 
attitude  towards  his  teacher  and  his  training 
seems  to  undergo  a  radical  change  for  the 
better.  Hatred  is  often  changed  to  liking,  and 


io6    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

liking  to  loving.  And  striking  thus  deep  into 
the  emotional  life  of  the  child,  handwork 
cannot  fail  to  modify  his  whole  moral  and 
intellectual  nature.  It  is  indeed  not  unlikely 
that  much  of  what  has  in  the  past  been  ascribed 
to  a  direct  transfer  of  training  from  manual 
work  to  mental  work  is  really  due  to  an  in- 
direct influence.  The  service  of  the  hand 
reaches  the  head  through  the  heart. 

Various  attempts  have  been  made  to  explain 
why  handwork  is  supposed  to  have  so  marked  an 
influence  upon  the  intellect.  That  it  should  in- 
crease manual  dexterity  in  specific  directions 
is  readily  conceivable  ;  that  it  should  give 
clearer  notions  of  the  processes  engaged  in  and 
the  results  obtained  is  comprehensible  ;  but  that 
it  should  have  a  wide  general  effect  is,  in  these 
days  when  the  tendency  is  to  believe  in  specific 
as  opposed  to  general  training,  a  matter  which 
requires  both  practical  demonstration  and  theo- 
retical explanation.  The  nature  of  the  practical 
demonstration  is  indicated  above.  To  solve  the 
complete  problem  two  questions  must  be 
answered. 

1.  What    are   the   nature    and  extent    of   the 

motor  and  mental  processes  that  take 
place  during  the  handwork  exercise? 

2.  To  what  extent,  if  any,  does  the  training 

given  during  the  exercise  spread  to  other 
mental  and  motor  functions?  In  other 
words,  is  there  a  "  transfer  "  of  train- 
ing, and  if  so  how  much? 


HANDWORK  AS  EDUCATIVE  107 

The  answer  to  the  first  question  depends  upon 
the  kind  of  exercise  set  and  the  method  of  teach- 
ing. If  the  exercise  is  of  a  purely  mechanical 
nature  carried  out  under  the  direction  of  the 
teacher — if  it  is  mere  drill — then  the  mind  is 
scarcely  influenced  at  all  and  the  benefit  is 
almost  purely  physical.  Bodily  skill  is  acquired, 
and  little  else.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  pupil 
is  engaged  in  the  construction  of  an  object 
which  he  ardently  desires  to  make,  if  he  clearly 
has  before  him  the  goal  he  wishes  to  reach, 
and  if  he  is  allowed  to  devise  his  own  means 
for  accomplishing  that  end,  then  there  is  little 
doubt  that  his  whole  mind  is  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  work.  He  is  learning  on  the  highest 
level.  It  is  a  real  occupation,  in  the  sense 
that  the  whole  boy,  body  and  mind,  is  "  occu- 
pied." He  is  interested  in  the  work  and  attends 
closely  to  it.  If  he  lets  his  attention  wander 
ever  so  little  he  will  probably  spoil  his  work. 
And  any  error  that  is  made  becomes  obvious 
and  self -corrective.  Errors  in  spelling,  in  arith- 
metic, or  in  the  facts  of  history  are  not  obvious 
to  the  pupil  who  makes  them  ;  nor  do  they  as 
a  rule  cause  him1  much  concern  if  they  are  de- 
tected ;  but  with  handwork  it  is  different.  He 
sees  his  mistake  and  feels  annoyed  thereat.  He 
resolves  to  be  more  careful  next  time.  Indeed 
all  the  higher  processes  of  thought  are  involved 
in  the  pursuit.  Reflective  or  logical  thought  is 
a  necessity.  Observation,  discrimination,  imagi- 
nation, judgment — all  are  brought  into  requisi- 
tion. The  pupil  is,  in  fact,  forming  habits  of 


io8    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

two   kinds,    bodily   habits    and   mental   habits — 
habits   of   movement    and    habits   of   thought.1 

The  answer  to  the  second  question  is  far  more 
difficult,  as  it  involves  a  solution  of  the  vexed 
problem  of  formal  culture.  Is  bodily  skill 
acquired  in  one  direction  available  for  use  in 
a  totally  different  direction?  Is  a  man  who 
has  become  a  very  skilful  billiard  player  able 
by  virtue  of  that  skill  to  play  golf  better  than  if 
he  never  practised  billiard  playing?  Can  skill 
at  cricket  be  transferred  to  carpentry?  Skill  is 
a  special  form  of  habit  ;  and  so  is  rote  memory. 
It  is  likely,  therefore,  that  the  conclusions  arrived 
at  by  experimental  psychologists  with  regard  to 
the  training  of  memory  apply  equally  to  the 
training  of  skill.  William  James  contends  that 
one's  retentiveness  pure  and  simple  is  dependent 
on  the  natural  plasticity  of  one's  nervous  system. 
It  varies  with  age,  fatigue,  and  general  health, 
but  cannot  be  improved  by  practice  in  memoriz- 
ing. Numerous  as  have  been  the  experiments 
on  memory  that  have  been  made  and  recorded 
since  that  opinion  was  expressed,  none  of  them 
has  succeeded  in  shaking  that  sceptical  position. 
For  such  improvement  as  had  taken  place  could 
be  readily  explained  without  assuming  that 
natural  retentiveness  had  been  strengthened. 
And  as  retentiveness  depends  upon  association 
paths  in  the  cortex,  so  does  skill  depend  upon 

1  It  may  be  contended  that  all  habits  are  bodily,  inasmuch 
as  they  depend  upon  neural  arrangements.  Since,  however, 
the  habits  manifest  themselves  in  two  different  ways  the 
above  distinction  is  both  legitimate  and  useful. 


HANDWORK  AS  EDUCATIVE  109 

association  paths  in  the  sensory -motor  apparatus. 
We  have  no  evidence,  experimental  or  otherwise, 
that  training  in  a  specific  act  of  dexterity  has 
any  effect  upon  the  general  aptitude  to  acquire 
dexterity.  Cases  have  been  recorded  of  the 
transfer  of  skill  from  the  right  hand  to  the  left, 
but  the  amount  of  evidence  is  meagre  and  the 
transfer  claimed  is  very  slight.  It  does  not 
follow,  however,  that  there  is  no  spread  of  train- 
ing. For  two  complex  habits — an  act  of  skill 
invariably  involves  minor  automatisms — fre- 
quently have  common  elements.  There  are 
neural  paths  that  belong  to  both  ;  so  that  when 
one  of  the  complex  habits  has  been  fixed,  part 
of  the  work  of  fixing  the  other  complex  habit  has 
already  been  performed.  The  habits  involved 
in  writing  with  the  pen  have  much  in  common 
with  the  habits  involved  in  painting  with  a  small 
brush.  Learning  one  set  of  habits  facilitates 
the  learning  of  the  other  set  of  habits.  There 
are,  however,  circumstances  when  the  fact  of 
having  acquired  a  fixed  way  of  doing  a  thing 
interferes  with  the  formation  of  a  new  habit 
which  takes  in  part  of  the  old  habit.  Suppose, 
for  instance,  that  the  series  of  movements  in- 
volved in  a  given  act  of  skill  is  a,  6,  c,  d,  e,  /,  g, 
and  they  have  by  practice  been  welded  together 
into  an  automatic  system.  If  it  is  desired  to 
learn  a  new  co-ordinated  series,  k,  /,  dy  e,  /,  m, 
n,  the  learning  is  facilitated  by  the  fact  that  the 
series  d,  e,  /,  is  already  mechanized,  but  retarded 
by  the  fact  that  the  strong  tendency  of  d,  e,  /, 
to  run  into  g  has  to  be  inhibited  before  it  can 


no    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

be  diverted  into  m,  n.  The  balance  of  advantage 
is  large  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  the 
common  automatic  process.  It  must  further  be 
remembered  that  the  higher  kinds  of  skill  involve 
a  large  amount  of  attentive  control.  It  is  only 
the  partial  processes  that  are  automatic.  The 
physical  habits  are,  in  fact,  mixed  up  with  mental 
habits  and  attitudes.  Taking  into  consideration, 
therefore,  the  physical  plane  only,  we  can  come 
to  no  other  conclusion  than  that  general  handi- 
ness  cannot  be  produced  by  specific  exercises. 
General  dexterity  is  a  relative  term.  We  can 
only  say  that  one  kind  of  dexterity  is  more 
general  than  another  when  the  number  of  distinct 
skilled  operations  is  greater  in  the  first  case  than 
in  the  second  ;  and  the  only  way  to  make  sure 
of  this  wider  generality  is  to  increase  the  number 
and  variety  of  manual  exercises. 

When  we  consider  the  mental  functions  in- 
volved in  manual  training  the  case  for  a  general 
as  opposed  to  a  specific  training  appears  much 
stronger.  All  training,  whether  physical  or 
mental,  depends  ultimately  upon  the  formation  of 
habits.  If,  therefore,  habits  can  spread,  then 
training  can  spread  ;  if  habits  can  be 
generalized  then  can  training  be  generalized.  It 
has  been  insisted  on  by  recent  writers  l  that  a 
habit  is  always  specific,  and  that  a  general  habit 
is  a  contradiction  in  terms.  Is  it  not  possible, 
however,  for  a  habit  to  be  generalized  in  the 
same  way  as  McDougall  has  shown  instincts  to 
be  generalized?  While  the  emotional  nucleus 
1  Such  as  Thorndike,  Bagley,  and  Judd. 


HANDWORK  AS  EDUCATIVE  in 

of  an  instinct  remains  fairly  constant,  the  range 
of  stimuli  capable  of  arousing  that  feeling  may 
be  indefinitely  widened,  as  also  may  be  the  range 
of  motor  responses.  New  situations  may  evoke 
the  instinct,  and  new  adaptations  are  found  for 
old  situations.  Habits,  on  the  other  hand,  how- 
ever complex  they  may  be,  are  devoid  of  this 
emotional  nucleus,  and  if  the  response  is  changed 
the  habit  itself  is  changed.  For  the  motor 
response  exhausts  the  habit,  while  it  does  not 
exhaust  the  instinct.  On  the  side  of  the  stimulus, 
however,  generalization  takes  place  in  the  habit 
as  well  as  in  the  instinct.  This  is  specially  true 
of  the  mode  of  procedure  in  a  special  habit.1 

For  this  may  be  found  applicable  to  an  exten- 
sive field  of  service.  It  may  be  a  skeleton  key 
to  fit  many  locks.  Methods  of  procedure  in 
making  a  model  in  woodwork,  in  carrying  out  a 
chemical  analysis,  in  attacking  a  certain  type  of 
arithmetical  problem,  in  parsing  and  analysis, 
in  scientific  discovery,  and  so  forth,  are  mani- 
festly applicable  to  a  large  number  of  operations 
differing  individually  from  one  another.  They 
are  general  forms  which  may  remain  the  same 
while  the  contents  vary.  They  are  not  general 
habits  in  the  sense  of  being  vague  and  indefinite  : 
they  are  general  in  the  sense  that  they  can  be 
applied  to  an  indefinite  number  of  cases. 

These  modes  of  procedure,  ways  of  setting  to 
work,  methods  of  attack,  arrangement,  and 
achievement,  are  valuable  by  virtue  of  their 

1  See  S.  H.  Rowe:  "  Habit  Formation  and  the  Science  of 
Teaching/'  pp.  245-6. 


H2  HANDWORK:  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

generality.  They  mean  a  large  return  for  a 
small  amount  of  training.  It  has  already  been 
shown  that  handwork  in  engaging  the  whole 
powers  of  the  child  trains  his  attention  in  a 
particular  direction.  When  a  boy  makes  a  kite 
his  attention  is  at  least  being  trained  to  function 
in  this  particular  kind  of  activity  ;  and,  though 
to  a  less  extent,  in  other  activities  akin  to  it. 
This  much  is  practically  agreed  to  by  all.  But 
can  we  go  further  than  this?  Can  we  say  that 
attention  being  a  factor  common  to  all  forms  of 
mental  activity,  every  other  mental  function  must 
benefit  to  some  extent  by  the  training  in  attention 
got  by  kite-making?  On  at  least  the  importance 
of  this  question  William  James  is  emphatic. 
"  The  faculty/*  he  says,  "  of  voluntarily  bringing 
back  a  wandering  attention,  over  and  over  again, 
is  the  very  root  of  judgment,  character,  and 
will.  No  one  is  compos  sal  if  he  have  it  not. 
An  education  that  should  improve  this  faculty 
would  be  the  education  par  excellence."  It  is 
true  that  this  refers  to  voluntary  attention  as 
distinct  from  the  spontaneous  or  non-voluntary 
kind.  But  then  the  latter  needs  no  training. 
Can  voluntary  attention  be  trained?  The 
practical  schoolmaster  who  has  "  licked  into 
shape  "  many  a  listless  and  inattentive  class 
answers  with  an  emphatic  "  Yes  "  ;  and  no 
amount  of  fulmination  against  formal  discipline 
is  likely  to  alter  his  view.  If  improvement  seems 
to  have  taken  place  in  the  power  of  a  class  of 
children  to  attend  to  their  studies,  how  can  this 
seeming— if  it  be  but  seeming— be  explained? 


HANDWORK  AS  EDUCATIVE  113 

It  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  certain  habits 
of  motor  adjustment  have  been  formed,  which 
tend  to  stimulate  and  maintain  attention.  It  has 
already  been  shown  how  important — nay,  essen- 
tial— are  certain  motor  innervations  and  inhibi- 
tions to  the  maintenance  and  furtherance  of 
attention.  These  habits  of  adjustment  are  what 
we  mean  when  we  talk  about  habits  of  attention. 
They  are  both  general  and  specific.  There  are 
certain  habits  of  attention  which  facilitate  the 
concentration  of  the  mind  upon  kite-making 
only  ;  but  there  are  others  which  are  common  to 
all  attentive  processes,  whether  directed  to  per- 
cepts, images,  or  concepts.  We  conclude  that 
a  specific  exercise  in  handwork  may  give  a 
general  training  in  voluntary  attention.  The 
same  remarks  are  true  of  observation,  ideation, 
and  reasoning.  Handwork  may  be  so  taught 
as  to  encourage  the  formation  of  habits  which 
facilitate  observation,  ideation,  and  reasoning, 
some  of  which  habits  are  applicable  to  certain 
narrow  types  of  handwork  only,  some  to  hand- 
work generally,  and  some  to  a  much  wider  field 
of  service.  If  that  is  so,  why  not,  it  may  be 
asked,  ally  oneself  with  the  advocates  of  formal 
discipline  and  of  the  old-fashioned  theory  of 
faculties?  If  it  is  true  that  one's  attention, 
observation,  etc.,  can  be  improved  as  a  whole 
by  manual  training,  then  the  position  of  the 
disciplinarians  seems  to  be  established.  But 
it  is  not  so.  The  theory  put  forward  here  differs 
fundamentally  from  that  held  by  the  older  and 
more  extreme  advocates  of  formal  discipline. 

8 


H4    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

The  difference  may  be  illustrated  by  reference  to 
eyesight — to  vision  as  an  optical  fact.  The 
healthy  development  of  the  physical  apparatus 
involved  in  vision  depends  upon  nutrition  and 
such  informal  exercise  as  the  ordinary  circum- 
stances of  life  cannot  fail  to  ensure.  No  special 
exercises  are  needed  to  train  the  eyesight.  In 
fact,  it  is  mature  at  a  fairly  early  age,  and  after 
that  it  tends  to  deteriorate  rather  than  to  improve 
by  being  used.  No  man  will  contend  that  his 
eyesight  when  he  was  thirty  was  better  than 
when  he  was  twenty.  The  only  kind  of  practice 
that  produced  improvement  was  that  afforded  in 
the  early  years  of  childhood,  when  certain 
muscular  habits  were  being  formed.  These 
habits,  which  all  tended  to  the  more  favourable 
reception  of  the  stimulus,  comprised  the  turning 
of  the  head  and  eyes,  the  convergence  of  the 
eyeballs,  and  the  accommodation  of  the  crystal- 
line lens.  These  co-ordinations  are  no  doubt 
partly  congenital,  but  they  need  to  be  developed 
and  perfected  by  habit.  The  more  important 
of  these  habits  are  probably  acquired  during  the 
first  few  months  after  birth,  and  after  they  have 
been  fully  formed,  training  can  do  no  more  for 
the  improvement  of  the  physical  part  of  seeing. 
That  is  the  position  taken  here  with  reference 
to  the  mental  powers.  They  are  gifts  or  natural 
powers,  just  as  eyesight  is  a  natural  power, 
dependent  on  such  factors  as  age,  heredity, 
nutrition,  and  health  ;  and  the  only  thing  that 
training  can  do  for  them  is  to  fix  such  habits 
of  mental  and  motor  adjustment  as  will  best 
facilitate  their  operation.  Training  can  grease 


HANDWORK  AS  EDUCATIVE  115 

the  wheels  of  the  machinery  :    it  cannot  increase 
the  motive  power. 

The  advocates  of  faculty  training,  on  the  other 
hand,  would  contend  that  these  natural  powers 
are  themselves  directly  improved  by  exercise,  and 
improved  almost  indefinitely.  To  cultivate  in 
the  child  the  habit  of  observation  does  not  mean 
to  them  the  cultivation  of  a  complex  of  habits 
which  aid  and  abet  observation  ;  it  means  that 
observation  is  itself  of  the  nature  of  a  habit 
which  can  be  improved  by  practice. 

The  theory  of  ancillary  habits,  as  it  might  be 
called,  is  more  in  accordance  with  the  facts  as 
disclosed  by  experimental  psychology.  It  ex- 
plains why  Winch  found  children's  memory 
capable  of  improvement,  and  William  James 
found  his  own  memory  incapable  of  improvement. 
Ancillary  habits  of  adjustment  and  procedure 
which  had  been  formed  in  the  second  case  had 
not  been  formed  in  the  first.  It  explains  the 
transference  of  training  in  memory  recorded  by 
Ebert,  Meumann,  and  Fracker.  It  explains  why 
the  amount  of  transfer  is  roughly  proportional 
to  the  similarity  of  the  material  ;  for  similarity 
of  material  involves  a  similarity  in  the  ancillary 
habits  of  procedure. 

There  is  yet  another  kind  of  general  training, 
both  intellectual  and  moral,  which  is  supposed 
to  be  afforded  by  handwork.  It  is  said  to 
cultivate  such  qualities  as  accuracy,  neatness, 
thoroughness,  the  "  spirit  of  work/'  the  "  spirit 
of  craftsmanship,"  and  so  forth.  In  what  sense, 
if  any,  is  this  true? 

Bagley,  in  his  book  on  "  The  Educative  Pro- 


u6    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

cess/'  deals  with  some  of  these  qualities.  He 
gives  an  instance  of  neatness  in  arithmetic  not 
being  transferred  to  other  subjects.  He  points 
out  that  these  qualities  are  sometimes  transferred 
to  provinces  other  than  those  in  which  they  are 
acquired,  and  sometimes  they  are  not.  When 
transference  does  take  place  it  is  due,  he  con- 
tends, to  the  fact  that  a  general  ideal  has  been, 
formed  in  the  pupil's  mind.  A  boy  who  has  been 
trained  to  do  neat  handwork  will  not  write  neatly 
in  consequence  unless  he  consciously  forms  a 
general  ideal  of  neatness  in  penmanship.  There 
is,  in  fact,  a  family  of  habits  of  neatness — one 
for  each  separate  kind  of  activity — and  an  ideal 
of  neatness  is  the  father  of  the  family.  Professor 
Henderson  analyses  the  case  more  thoroughly.1 
He  shows  that  "  Neatness  is  a  definite  quality, 
tested  by  a  definite  criticism,  and  demanded  by 
a  definite  type  of  situation.  The  detailed  factors 
of  the  quality  differ  from  case  to  case,  but  there 
is  always  sameness  in  the  fundamental  factors." 
These  fundamental  factors  comprise  cleanliness 
(the  absence  of  matter  out  of  place),  and  such 
orderly  arrangement  as  favours  easy  inspection 
and  gives  aesthetic  satisfaction.  To  secure  neat 
effects  certain  modes  of  procedure  must  be 
habitually  adopted.  In  fact  neatness  resolves 
itself  into  certain  habits  of  procedure,  which  are 
of  varying  degrees  of  generality.  Indeed  the 
ideal  itself  becomes  a  habit  ;  for  if  it  frequently 
recurs  in  the  mind  it  cannot  fail  to  take  on 
the  characteristics  of  a  mental  habit.  To  use 
1  "  Text-Book  in  the  Principles  of  Education,"  pp.  311-12. 


HANDWORK  AS  EDUCATIVE  117 

Bagley's  terminology,  it  first  functions  as  judg- 
ment, and  then  as  habit. 

So  with  all  the  other  qualities  mentioned. 
Each  is  a  complex  of  habits  of  a  physical,  in- 
tellectual, emotional,  and  volitional  nature  in- 
volving elements  of  judgment  and  mental 
attitude.  That  manual  training  can  cultivate 
these  qualities  there  can  be  little  doubt.  The 
extent  to  which  they  are  actually  cultivated 
depends  largely  upon  method — upon  the  manner 
in  which  the  pupil  is  induced  to  acquire  the 
qualities  in  specific  instances.  Mere  mechanical 
drill,  for  instance,  renders  any  sort  of  spread 
of  training  highly  improbable. 

We  have  elaborated  the  theory  that  handwork 
is  valuable  as  a  means  of  cultivating  certain 
habits,  some  of  which  are  useful  in  the  sphere 
of  practical  activities  only,  while  others  can  by 
good  teaching  be  rendered  available  for  use 
in  other  fields  of  activity.  But  this  does  not 
exhaust  the  disciplinary  effects  of  handwork  ; 
for  it  tends  to  create  certain  desirable  attitudes 
of  mind.  The  term  "  attitude,"  which  has  crept 
into  educational  literature  within  quite  recent 
years,  appears  to  supply  a  real  need.  The  Her- 
bartians,  who  believe  that  the  mental  contents 
do  everything  and  the  mind  does  nothing,  have 
no  use  for  the  word.  It  is,  however,  definitely 
established  in  common  speech,  and  denotes  a 
very  real  factor  in  human  experience — a  factor 
which  has  under  other  names  been  recognized 
in  psychology.  A  is  said,  for  instance,  to  adopt 
a  hostile  attitude  towards  B.  All  A's  reactions 


n8    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

to  situations  in  which  B  figures  partake  of  a 
different  nature  from  what  they  would  if  his 
attitude  were  friendly.  His  attitude  colours  the 
whole  series.  It  may  be  that  this  so-called 
attitude  is  a  function  of  mental  content,  or  that 
it  may  be  resolved  into  more  familiar  elements. 
Dr.  Rowe,  for  instance,  regards  it  as  a  vague 
and  figurative  expression  "  implying  often,  per- 
haps usually,  habit,  while  at  other  times  it  refers 
to  the  particular  massing  of  ideas  in  response  to 
a  given  situation."  I  Baldwin's  Dictionary  de- 
fines the  term  as  readiness  for  attention  or  action 
of  a  definite  sort.  Professor  Judd  uses  the  term 
extensively,2  and  so  does  Dewey.  The  latter 
calls  Play  and  Will  mental  attitudes. 3  In 
the  preface  to  "  How  we  Think  "  he  says  : 
'  This  book  represents  the  conviction  that  the 
needed  steadying  and  centralizing  factor  (in 
education)  is  found  in  adopting  as  the  end  of 
endeavour  that  attitude  of  mind,  that  habit  of 
thought,  which  we  call  scientific."  Dr.  Hender- 
son in  dealing  with  the  Education  of  the  Reason, 
which  he  regards  as  the  supreme  intellectual 
aim  in  education  (agreeing  herein  with  Dewey), 
selects  two  attitudes  as  of  vital  importance — the 
attitudes  of  originality  and  criticism.  4  He 
regards  resourcefulness  and  judgment  as  the 

1  "  Habit-Formation/'  p.  33. 

2  See  his  article  on  "The  Doctrine  of  Attitudes,"  in  the 
Journal    of   Philosophy,    Psychology,    and    Scientific    Method, 
vol.  v.  No.  25. 

3  «  The  School  and  the  Child  "  (Blackie),  p.  48,  and  "  Edu- 
cational Essays  "  (Blackie),  p.  132. 

4  Op.  cit.  pp.  211-13,  anc*  chap.  ix.  passim. 


HANDWORK  AS  EDUCATIVE  119 

two  factors  of  ideational  readjustment,  and  con- 
tends that  each  involves  a  factor  of  content  and 
one  of  attitude.  In  the  case  of  resourcefulness 
the  content  is  experience  and  the  attitude 
originality,  and  in  the  case  of  judgment  the 
content  is  a  knowledge  of  standards  of  relative 
value  and  the  attitude  the  power  to  apply  these 
standards — that  is,  the  critical  attitude.  He 
regards  the  attitudes  and  contents  as  distinct 
elements  as  they  are  found  to  vary  indepen- 
dently. To  cultivate  these  attitudes  is,  he  thinks, 
to  secure  for  training  the  greatest  possible 
degree  of  generality.  "  The  essence  of  the 
attitude  lies  in  certain  habits  and  associated 
feelings,  which,  when  aroused,  stimulate  both  the 
imagination  and  the  judgment,"  These  seem  to 
be  the  motor  adjustments  involved  in  attention. 
We  thus  come  back  to  our  doctrine  of  ancillary 
habits.  Whether  these  two  important  attitudes 
can  entirely  be  resolved  into  habits  or  whether 
there  is  an  independent  residuum  matters  not 
for  our  purpose.  The  important  issue  is  that 
the  best,  perhaps  the  only,  means  we  know  of 
cultivating  them  is  by  putting  the  pupil  in  such 
a  situation  that  he  is  compelled  to  reason.  In 
other  words,  we  must  present  the  appropriate 
stimulus,  which  is  a  new  situation — in  short,  a 
problem.  But  the  problem  must  be  to  the  pupil 
a  real  problem — a  problem  connected  with  the 
main  stream  of  his  interests — a  problem  the 
solution  to  which  seems  to  him  to  be  worth 
while.1  All  other  problems  are  spurious.  No 
1  Idem,  p.  273. 


120    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

subject  provides  for  the  young  child  such  a 
large  number  of  these  real  problems  as  construc- 
tional handwork.  Kirkpatrick,  in  his  "  Genetic 
Psychology,"  gives  another  version  of  the  value 
of  manual  training.1  In  dealing  with  the  types 
of  learning  activity,  he  classifies  the  nerve  centres 
into  three  levels  corresponding  with  the  three 
levels  of  learning.  He  calls  them  sensory  motor 
centres,  representative  centres,  and  conceptual 
centres.  He  points  out  that  the  representative 
centres  are  primarily  excited  by  the  sensory 
motor  centres,  and  the  conceptual  centres  by  the 
representative  centres,  and  variety  in  such  ex- 
citation helps  to  get  the  higher  centres  ready 
for  independent  activity.  "  After  they  have  thus 
become  independent  of  immediate  stimulation 
from  the  lower  centres,  there  is  need  for  the 
reversal  of  the  process  so  that  the  higher  centres 
may  send  back  stimuli  to  the  lower  and  thus 
excite  them  to  activity."  "  Usually  this  reversal 
of  the  course  of  impulse  so  that  the  higher 
centres  stimulate  the  lower  to  activity  takes 
place  gradually  ;  and  the  fact  that  the  processes 
are  distinct  has  received  little  attention."  He 
uses  as  an  illustrative  example  the  fact  that 
one  who  understands  grammar  well  may  use 
poor  language,  while  one  who  uses  good  lan- 
guage may  know  little  grammar.  In  fact  he 
tries  to  explain  the  difference  between  theoretical 
knowledge  and  practical  ability,  between  know- 
ing how  a  thing  is  done  and  being  able  to  do 
it.  "  The  value  of  manual  training  and  of  other 
1  Chap,  x,  particularly  p.  312. 


HANDWORK  AS  EDUCATIVE  121 

forms  of  expression  in  learning,  is  not  because 
movements  are  made,  but  because  the  higher 
centres  are  gaming  power  to  stimulate  and  direct 
the  activities  of  the  lower.  This  is  also  the 
psychological  justification  for  the  general 
principle  of  having  impression  followed  by 
expression." 

The  claims  of  handwork  as  an  educational 
agency  are  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  manual 
activities  aid  the  healthy  development  of  certain 
instincts  with  which  all  children  are  naturally 
endowed — particularly  those  of  curiosity,  acqui- 
sition, and  construction.  The  whole  system  of 
man's  activities  and  pursuits  are  ultimately 
rooted  in  his  instincts.  Thence  come  the 
primary  impulses  that  lead  him  to  establish  wider 
and  more  complex  relations  with  his  environ- 
ment. The  habits  he  form's  are  merely  ways 
in  which  these  instincts  may  be  modified,  ex- 
tended, or  more  firmly  fixed.  The  particular 
instincts  in  question  mature  during  the  pupil's 
school  life  ;  and  any  activity  which  legitimately 
calls  these  instincts  into  play  is  certain  to  enlist 
his  interest  and  to  engage  his  mind  profitably. 
It  is  a  matter  of  common  experience  that  manual 
occupations  rarely  fail  to  make  a  strong  appeal 
to  young  children.  They  like  to  take  things  to 
pieces  to  see  how  they  are  made  up,  or  how 
they  "  work  "  ;  they  like  to  make  things  ;  and 
they  like  to  possess  things  that  they  themselves 
have  made. 


THE  DEFENCE  OF  HANDWORK  RE- 
GARDED AS  AN  INDIRECT  MEANS 
OF  EDUCATION 

WHATEVER  may  be  the  final  outcome  of  the 
controversy  on  Formal  Discipline,  there  is  at 
least  one  point  upon  which  educationists  are 
now  virtually  in  agreement,  and  that  is  that  the 
disciplinary  value  of  a  branch  of  study  is  not  a 
sufficient  justification  for  including  it  in  the 
school  curriculum.  It  is  true  that  this  principle 
is  not  fully  recognized  in  the  schools,  particu- 
larly the  secondary  schools  and  the  older  uni- 
versities, but  the  case  for  the  traditional  classical 
course  as  a  complete  instrument  of  liberal 
education  has  broken  down.  Discipline  is  not 
the  monopoly  of  any  one  branch  of  instruction. 
The  subjects  of  school  instruction  having  been 
selected  on  social  and  utilitarian  grounds,  they 
may  then  be  so  taught  as  to  provide  the  neces- 
sary training.  In  fact,  what  might  be  called 
the  theory  of  indirect  attack  is  coming  to  be 
generally  regarded  as  an  exploded  theory.  The 
study  of  Greek,  for  instance,  is  not  so  good  a 
preparation  for  a  coxnrnercial  pursuit  as  the  study 
of  Book-keeping.  If  there  is  a  transfer  of  ability 
from  one  kind  of  pursuit  to  another,  the  transfer 


DEFENCE  OF  HANDWORK  123 

is  never  complete.  There  is  always  more  or 
less  loss.  The  reasonable  conclusion  seems  to 
be  that  the  best  method  of  attacking  a  subject 
is  the  method  of  direct  attack.  But  handwork 
is  almost  invariably  advocated,  not  on  the  ground 
that  it  trains  the  hand,  but  on  the  ground  that 
it  trains  the  mind.  A  boy  is  not  taught  wood- 
work in  order  that  later  on  he  may  be  able  to 
make  his  own  household  furniture,  but  that  he 
may  be  able  to  think  more  clearly  and  more 
efficiently.  Dewey  states  the  case  thus  :  "  The 
problem  and  the  opportunity  with  the  young  is 
selection  of  orderly  and  continuous  modes  of 
occupation,  which,  while  they  lead  up  to  and 
prepare  for  the  indispensable  activities  of  adult 
life,  have  their  own  sufficient  justification  in 
their  present  reflex  influence  upon  the  formation 
of  habits  of  thought."  l  Again  :  "  In  the  main, 
for  most  persons,  the  primary  resource  in  the 
development  of  orderly  habits  of  thought  is 
indirect,  not  direct.  Intellectual  organization 
originates,  and  for  a  time  grows  as  an  accom- 
paniment of  the  organization  of  the  acts  required 
to  realize  an  end,  not  as  the  result  of  a  direct 
appeal  to  thinking  power."  This  is  a  concise 
statement  of  the  view  that  manual  training  is 
not  ultimately  directed  towards  manual  but 
mental  efficiency.  And  this,  I  take  it,  is  the 
right  view. 

The  justification  for  taking  this  indirect  course 
is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  in  the  education 
of  the  young  it  is  as  a  rule  the  only  course  that 
1  "  How  we  Think,"  p.  43. 


I24    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

is  at  first  open  to  us.  For  other  means  fail  to 
promote  real  growth.  The  handwork  method 
is  not,  however,  so  indirect  as  it  seems.  Hender- 
son, dealing  with  the  question  of  Formal  Dis- 
cipline,1 gives  two  instances  of  school  subjects 
taught  for  their  supposed  disciplinary  value- 
Latin  and  Manual  Training.  Other  writers  have 
tended  to  regard  these  as  similar  cases.  But 
as  a  matter  of  fact  they  rest  on  entirely  different 
footings.  Manual  operations  form  an  essential 
part  of  the  life  of  every  normal  individual.  If 
a  man  of  the  most  sedentary  and  contemplative 
habits  were  to  put  his  right  hand  in  a  sling  for 
a  whole  day  he  would  immediately  realize  the 
large  part  that  manual  activity  plays  in  the 
ordinary  routine  of  his  life.  This  is  not  the 
case  with  Latin.  To  the  bulk  of  mankind  the 
word  Latin  is  little  more  than  a  name  :  it  has 
no  vital  connection  with  either  their  vocations 
or  their  avocations.  When  one  remembers  that 
by  far  the  majority  of  mankind  is  actively  en- 
gaged in  the  production  of  wealth  by  manual 
work,  one  sees  that  the  theory  of  the  curriculum 
as  roughly  mirroring  the  more  important  activi- 
ties of  social  life  demands,  in  the  case  of  the 
primary  school,  the  inclusion  of  handwork  and 
the  exclusion  of  Latin.  The  school  curriculum 
should  be  regarded  as  a  function  of  two  variables 
— the  child  and  his  environment.  Not  solely 
the  future  environment,  but  also  the  present 
environment  must  be  considered  ;  and  not 
merely  these  but  also  the  natural  instincts  and 
1  Op.  cit,  p.  283. 


DEFENCE  OF  HANDWORK  125 

propensities  of  the  child  which  enable  him  to 
enter  into  suitable  relationship  with  his  environ- 
ment. When  the  subject  introduced  into  the 
school  satisfies  all  these  conditions,  then,  and 
then  only,  will  it  contribute  to  healthy  and 
vigorous  mental  growth.  In  the  case  of  the 
young,  handwork  satisfies  all  these  conditions, 
while  Latin  satisfies  none  of  them.  Latin 
supplies  to  the  young  child  no  single  problem, 
the  solution  of  which  seems  to  him1  to  be  worth 
while. 


HANDWORK   AND    BOOKWORK 

HANDWORK  is  advocated  as  affording  during 
the  early  stages  of  childhood  the  best  means 
by  which  interests  and  intellectual  activities  may 
be  engaged  and  developed.  It  is  only  in  an 
atmosphere  of  motor  activity  that  a  child's  bodily 
and  mental  powers  find  an  adequate  stimulus 
for  growth.  It  is  in  attempting  to  secure  some 
tangible  result  that  his  movements  get  co-ordi- 
nated and  organized  ;  and  in  organizing  his 
acts  he  organizes  his  experience.  His  interests 
are  as  a  rule  so  fully  absorbed  by  practical 
pursuits,  that  it  is  in  them  that  real  problems 
present  themselves  to  him — problems  which 
make  to  him  a  sufficiently  strong  appeal  to  call 
forth  intellectual  and  physical  effort,  and  can 
be  adequately  solved  by  his  own  devices.  But 
as  he  gets  older  and  his  more  theoretical 
interests  develop,  while  there  is  still  need  for 
self-expression,  that  self-expression  tends  to  take 
a  more  symbolic  form.  While  constructive  hand- 
work is  the  typical  form  of  presentative  expres- 
sion, language  is  the  typical  form  of  symbolic 
expression.  In  handwork  the  expression  is  an 
attempt  at  reproducing,  albeit  in  an  imperfect 
and  often  very  schematic  form,  the  impression  ; 
in  language  the  expression  in  no  way  resembles 


HANDWORK  AND  BOOKWORK       127 

the  impression  :  it  is  a  symbol  conventionally 
attached  to  a  thought  which  is  often  incapable 
of  pictorial  presentment.  /The  term1  "  language  " 
is  here  used  to  include  the  symbolism  of  mathe- 
matics, logic,  and  chemistry.  The  difference 
between  the  two  kinds  of  expression,  both 
serving  as  an  aid  to  thought,  may  be  illustrated 
by  the  two  kinds  of  arithmetic  now  taught  in 
the  elementary  schools — Practical  Arithmetic 
and  Theoretical  Arithmetic.  The  differentia  of 
Practical  Arithmetic  is  that  the  material  objects 
dealt  with  are  either  actually  present  or  are 
represented  by  natural,  as  distinct  from  conven- 
tional, symbols.  If,  for  instance,  a  boy  were 
asked  to  find  the  diagonal  distance  across  a 
rectangular  garden  30  yards  long  and  25  yards 
wide,  and  proceeded  to  draw  the  garden  to  scale 
and  to  find  the  approximate  length  of  the 
diagonal  by  measurement,  that  would  be  con- 
sidered an  exercise  in  Practical  Arithmetic  ;  for 
although  neither  the  actual  garden  nor  the  actual 
unit  of  measurement  was  used,  yet  was  each 
adequately  represented  by  things  which  made 
the  same  kind  of  perceptual  appeal.  When 
worked  out  by  the  Pythagorean  formula  it  is  an 
exercise  in  Abstract  Arithmetic. 

Thus  we  have  in  our  schools  a  division  of 
school  activities  which  cuts  athwart  the  usual 
classification  into  branches  of  study.  The  dis- 
tinction broadly  corresponds  with  the  popular 
distinction  between  the  practical  and  the  theo- 
retical, the  concrete  and  the  abstract,  the 
empirical  and  the  rational,  the  useful  and  the 
academic,  the  (practically)  scientific  and  the 


128    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

classical.  None  of  these  pairs,  however,  ac- 
curately connotes  the  distinction  I  wish  to  make. 
Probably  the  terms  "  practical  "  and  "  academic  " 
will  most  adequately  serve  my  purpose.  The 
characteristic  feature  of  the  practical  work  of  the 
school  is  handwork  :  the  characteristic  feature  of 
the  academic  work  is  language.  It  is  not  a  case 
of  distinction  between  motor  and  mental,  for 
both  motor  and  mental  elements  enter  into  each  : 
it  is  rather  a  distinction  in  the  kind  of  thought 
and  in  the  kind  of  motor  activity.  In  the  prac- 
tical work  the  thinking  process  takes  place  for 
the  sake  of  some  practical  result,  which  in  its 
turn  often  serves  as  a  starting-point  for  new 
lines  of  thought.  In  the  academic  work  the 
thinking  is  directed  mainly  towards  the  acquisi- 
tion of  knowledge,  which  tends  to  be  regarded 
as  an  end  in  itself,  or  is  at  least  not  acquired 
with  a  view  to  immediate  practical  application. 
Practical  efficiency  is  the  ideal  in  the  former 
case  ;  personal  culture  in  the  latter. 

Except  perhaps  in  the  kindergarten,  the  aca- 
demic element  has  dominated  nearly  all  our 
schools  up  to  the  present  day.  The  traditional 
curriculum  is  the  academic  curriculum.  The 
"  humanities  "  have  served  as  the  main  medium 
of  culture  :  the  classics  have  constituted  the 
staple  course  of  instruction.  And  with  the  aim 
involved  we  have  no  quarrel.  What  modern 
psychology  has  thrown  doubt  upon  is  the  means 
of  achieving  the  aim.  The  academic  curriculum 
is  largely  based  upon  the  demands  of 
adult  interests  :  it  does  not  help  to  develop 
a  child's  interests  :  it  does  not  satisfy  the  system 


HANDWORK  AND  BOOKWORK        129 

of  conations  which  naturally  grow  in  his  mind. 
It  stands  outside  the  main  current  of  his  vigorous 
and  impulsive  life  -  stream.  The  teacher's 
problem  is  to  bring  it  within  this  current. 
The  solution  is  probably  to  be  found  in  utilizing 
practical  pursuits  as  the  starting  ground.  The 
understanding  of  language  presupposes  a  store 
of  experiences  in  the  terms  of  which  the  hearer 
interprets  that  language.  It  is  palpably  a  mis- 
take to  think  that  words  leave  the  lips  of  the 
speaker  saturated  with  his  meaning,  pass  into 
the  mind  of  the  hearer  and  yield  up  this  meaning 
unchanged.  They  are  mere  stimuli  which  stir 
into  life  some  of  the  hearer's  own  ideas — ideas 
which  he  has  acquired  in  his  commerce  with 
the  world  of  real  things.  Indeed  we  are  all 
strangely  dependent  for  our  intellectual  progress 
upon  our  familiarity  with  the  world  of  matter. 
For  we  can  only  think  of  the  things  that  are 
unseen  under  the  similitude  of  the  things  that 
are  seen.  Handwork  helps  to  supply  the  child's 
mind  with  this  essential  outfit.  It  is  a  neces- 
sary stepping-stone  to  higher  things.  But  hand- 
work can  familiarize  him'  with  his  immediate 
environment  only.  To  escape  from  these  narrow 
limits  he  must  use  and  understand  at  least  his 
mother  tongue.  The  speech  of  his  elders  and 
the  printed  page  extend  the  child's  environment 
indefinitely — not  only  his  physical  environment, 
but,  what  is  far  more  important,  his  spiritual 
environment.  They  enable  him  to  come  into 
as  much  of  his  social  inheritance  as  he  can 
intellectually  compass.  It  would  be  difficult, 
therefore,  to  overestimate  the  value  of  the  edu- 

9 


130    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

cation  that  comes  by  books,  so  long  as  it  is 
borne  in  mind  that  the  key  to  their  understanding 
is  to  be  found  in  the  reader's  personal  first-hand 
experience. 

It  seems  reasonable  therefore  to  infer  that 
the  bulk  of  the  work  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
school  should  be  practical,  and  that  the  amount 
of  academic  work  should  be  gradually  increased 
as  the  pupil  passes  up  the  school.  The  centre  of 
gravity  of  the  curriculum  should  gradually  shift 
from  the  hand  to  the  tongue.  Literary  training 
should  be  present  from  the  very  first,  and  mianual 
training  to  the  very  last  :  but  there  should  as 
a  rule  be  a  transfer  of  emphasis  from  the  latter 
to  the  former.  This  is,  however,  but  a  rough 
generalization,  for  individual  differences  in 
interests  and  abilities  cannot  be  ignored.  It 
often  happens  that  a  child  displays  an  extraordi- 
nary aptitude  for  linguistic  studies  or  abstract 
thought,  and  but  little  aptitude  for  manual  occu- 
pations ;  and  it  quite  frequently  happens  that 
a  child  who  has  no  ability  for  the  ordinary  ischool 
studies  displays  quite  remarkable  powers  at  the 
manual  training  centre.  It  is  well  known  that 
children  who  were  regarded  as  dullards  at  school 
have  often  proved  to  be  very  successful  in  the 
practical  pursuits  of  life.  It  is  the  business  of 
the  teachers  to  discover  these  individual  apti- 
tudes and  to  provide  for  each  a  suitable  course 
of  instruction  so  far  as  is  possible  within  the  limi- 
tations of  school  organization.  With  the  gradual 
diminution  in  the  size  of  the  class  this  individual 
attention  is  being  rendered  increasingly  possible. 


THE    SOCIAL   ASPECT   OF   MANUAL 
TRAINING 

To  say  that  the  school  is  a  social  institution  is 
a  truism.  The  school  is  founded  and  maintained 
by  society  for  the  sake  of  society.  It  is  the 
only  way  in  which  a  community  of  such  complex 
organization  as  a  European  nation  can  per- 
petuate itself.  The  training  afforded  by  the 
home  and  by  chance  intercourse  with  adults 
being  an  inadequate  preparation  for  the  manifold 
duties  of  the  future  father  and  citizen,  the  State, 
for  its  own  preservation,  insists  on  the  establish- 
ment and  maintenance  of  schools.  The  kind 
of  training  to  be  given  at  these  schools  is  ulti- 
mately a,  matter  for  the  State  to  decide.  For 
the  State  gives  its  own  interpretation  to  "  effici- 
ency "  and  requires  that  its  citizens  should  accept 
its  own  standards  of  value  and  utility.  Thus 
there  is  a  sense  in  which  all  education  is  specific 
as  opposed  to  general.  The  English  child  is 
taught  English  and  not  Japanese  because  he 
has  to  live  in  England  and  not  in  Japan.  The 
school  curriculum  in  fact  bears  a  vital  relation- 
ship to  the  environment  both  material  and  social. 
If  the  environment  changes,  the  curriculum 
should  change  as  well.  And  this  is  true  both 


132     HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

of  the  present  and  the  future  environment  of 
the  child  ;  for  education  is  quite  as  much  a 
participation  in  life  as  a  preparation  for  life. 
England  has  during  the  last  hundred  years 
changed  from  an  agricultural  to  an  industrial 
community  ;  but  the  corresponding  change  in 
the  curriculum  has  lagged  behind.  Where  the 
conditions  of  life  are  more  primitive,  where  man 
lives  close  to  the  soil  and  has  a  wide  range  of 
occupations,  it  is  not  to  the  children  an  unmixed 
advantage  to  be  captured  and  put  into  schools. 
The  farmstead  in  a  primitive  community  is  a 
place  where  innumerable  activities  are  constantly 
going  on.  Each  household  is  almost  entirely 
self-supporting,  supplying  its  own  food,  making 
its  own  clothing,  solving  its  own  problems  of 
shelter,  warmth  and  lighting.  The  children  see 
these  practical  processes  going  on.  They  fre- 
quently take  an  active  part  in  carrying  them 
out.  Thus  are  they  brought  into  vital  contact 
with  the  essentials  of  human  society — with  the 
experiences  that  through  countless  ages  moulded 
and  educated  the  mind  of  man.  England  was 
like  that  once.  Before  the  industrial  revolution 
of  the  nineteenth  century  the  bulk  of  the  popu- 
lation was  rural.  The  home  was  a  place  for 
technical  training,  the  boy  being  virtually 
apprenticed  to  his  father  and  the  girl  to  her 
mother.  And  such  work  as  the  children  did 
was  carried  out  in  the  spirit  of  play.  And  so 
varied  and  so  interesting  were  the  occupations 
that  they  constituted  an  education  in  themselves, 
sane  a>nd  effective  and  fruitful  enough  so  far 


THE  SOCIAL  ASPECT  OF  MANUAL   TRAINING      133 

as  it  went,  and  forming  the  best  preparation 
for  the  learning  to  be  got  in  the  school — the 
acquaintance  with  those  instruments  of  know- 
ledge (reading  and  writing  and  reckoning)  which 
would  enable  the  pupil  to  extend  and  communi- 
cate the  knowledge  he  had  already  acquired. 
He  got  his  motor  training  on  the  farm  ;  it  was 
not  necessary  to  duplicate  it  in  the  school. 

But  England  has  changed  since  those  days. 
Her  people  have  deserted  the  fields  and  crowded 
into  the  towns.  The  urban  child  of  to-day  gets 
little  or  no  practical  training  in  the  home,  and 
seldom  does  he  see  the  solution  of  any  of  the 
abiding1  problems  of  life.  The  need  for  food 
is  not  met  by  hunting,  fishing  or  gardening  ; 
the  food  is  simply  purchased  at  a  shop.  The 
home  industries  are  reduced  to  a  minimum. 
Everything  that  can  be  bought  at  a  shop  is 
bought  at  a  shop.  Time  was  when  the  funda- 
mejital  activities  of  social  life  were  open  to 
the  view  ;  now  they  are  hidden  away  in  work- 
shop, factory,  and  office.  The  boy  sees  not  his 
father's  daily  occupations.  Even  if  he  did  it 
would  avail  him  little,  for  it  is  generally  such 
a  small  part  of  such  a  big  process  that  its 
relation  to  the  whole  is  not  seen,  and  its  social 
significance  is  not  grasped. 

This  stupendous  social  change  means  much 
to  the  child.  It  means  that  many  of  the  simplest 
and  most  fundamental  operations  of  family  and 
social  life  no  longer  form  part  of  his  environ- 
ment. It  means  that  the  natural  stimulus  to 
manual  dexterity  has  disappeared.  It  means, 


134    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL   MEDIUM 

in  fine,  that  he  gets  no  effective  motor  education 
in  the  home.  And  those  educative  factors  which 
are  lacking  in  the  home  should  obviously  be 
supplied  by  the  school. 

Dewey  and  some  of  his  followers  hold  the 
view  that  the  best  education  for  the  young  is 
afforded  by  what  might  be  called  the  generic 
occupations  of  mankind — fishing,  weaving,  hunt- 
ing, cooking,  gardening,  etc.  By  actually  en- 
gaging in  these  occupations  they  encounter  the 
difficulties  which  our  ancestors  met  and 
mastered  ;  they  re-think  their  thoughts,  and 
re-discover  their  discoveries.  Thus  are  they 
enabled  to  analyse  modern  society  by  realizing 
how  such  a  society  came  to  exist.  It  is  claimed, 
too,  that  since  the  conditions  of  the  school  pur- 
suits approximate  more  nearly  to  those  of  the 
home  and  the  street,  there  is  more  opportunity 
for  the  cultivation  of  those  traits  of  character 
which  make  for  social  efficiency. 

It  is  manifest  that  without  a  direct  vital 
acquaintance  with  some  of  the  more  important 
of  the  industrial  arts  it  is  difficult  for  the  pupil 
to  realize  their  social  importance,  and  to  take 
a  sympathetic  interest  in  the  pursuits  of  the 
bulk  of  his  fellow-creatures.  Such  occupational 
work  in  the  school  enables  him  to  combine  freely 
with  his  school-mates  in  carrying  out  a  scheme 
which  would  be  difficult  to  perform  by  himself, 
and  thus  presses  upon  his  notice  the  advantages 
of  co-operation  and  the  conditions  of  "  give 
and  take  "  under  which  co-operative  work  can 
be  effectively  carried  out. 


AMBIDEXTERITY 

IT  was  Plato  who  first  mentioned  it.  You  will 
find  the  passage  in  the  Laws,  vii.  794  : — 

"  The  right  and  left  hands  are  supposed  to 
differ  by  nature  when  we  use  them  ;  whereas 
no  difference  is  found  in  the  use  of  the  feet  and 
lower  limbs  ;  but  in  the  use  of  the  hands  we 
are  in  a  manner  lame,  by  reason  of  the  folly  of 
nurses  an'd  mothers,  for,  although  our  several 
limbs  are  by  nature  balanced,  we  create  a  differ- 
ence in  them  by  bad  habit.  In  some  cases 
this  is  of  no  consequence,  as,  for  example,  when 
we  hold  the  lyre  in  the  left  hand  and  the  plec- 
trum in  the  right  ;  but  it  is  downright  folly  to 
make  the  same  distinction  in  other  cases.  The 
custom  of  the  Scythians  proves  our  error  ;  for 
they  not  only  hold  the  bow  from  them  with  the 
left  hand  and  draw  the  arrow  to  them  with  their 
right,  but  use  either  hand  for  both  purposes. 
And  there  are  many  similar  examples  in 
charioteering;  and  other  things,  from  which 
we  may  learn  that  those  who  make  the  left 
side  weaker  than  the  right  act  contrary  to 
Nature "  (Jowett's  translation). 

From  that  time  onward,  at  varying  intervals, 

men  have  arisen  and  proclaimed  to  the  world 

135 


136    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

as  an  important  discovery  the  fact  that  we  use 
one  hand  more  than  the  other.  They  have 
added  as  an  obvious  corollary  that  such  pre- 
ferential treatment  is  irrational.  It  is  within 
the  memory  of  some  of  my  readers  that  Charles 
Reade  started  in  the  Dally  Telegraph  a  contro- 
versy that  raged  furiously  for  a  short  time  and 
then  suddenly  dropped.  And  the  British  public 
heard  no  more  of  sinistral  and  dextral  until  in 
1903  the  Ambidextral  Culture  Society  was  in- 
augurated. Then  appeared  an  epidemic  of 
printed  matter  on  the  subject.  In  America  the 
craze  has  waxed  and  waned,  has  had  violent 
advocates  and  equally  violent  opponents.  What 
is  more  to  our  purpose,  it  has  invaded  the 
schools,  in  the  matter  of  drawing  at  least.  A 
few  short  years  ago  ambidextral  drawing  was 
the  latest  thing  in  our  infants'  schools.  It  was 
regarded  as  the  hall  mark  of  up-to-dateness. 
It  is  now  gone  with  "  the  snows  of  yester  year." 
The  advocates  of  ambidexterity  claim  that 
we  can  not  only  make  ourselves  more  useful 
by  cultivating  two-handedness,  but  that  we  can 
considerably  increase  our  brain  power.  For  in 
disturbing  the  symmetry  of  our  limbs  we  have 
also  disturbed  the  symmetry  of  our  brains.  We 
are  not  only  right  or  left-handed  :  we  are  also 
left  or  right-brained.  The  cerebral  hemisphere 
that  controls  the  unskilled  hand  is  always  under- 
developed. This,  they  say,  is  deplorable.  We 
are  less  than  we  might  be.  But  the  refrnedy 
is  easy.  Train  the  unskilled  hand.  If  you  bring 
both  hands  to  the  same  level  of  efficiency,  it 


AMBIDEXTERITY  137 

Is  argued  that  you  will  bring  both  halves  of 
the  brain  to  the  same  level  of  efficiency.  Many 
a  man  has  done  so — as  far  as  his  hands  are 
concerned  at  least.  General  Baden-Powell, 
for  instance,  can  write  and  draw  just  as  easily 
and  just  as  skilfully  with  his  left  hand  as  with 
his  right.  We  are  asked  to  believe  that  this 
has  something  to  do  with  his  level -headedness. 
We  are  further  told  of  certain  people  who  can 
write  two  letters  on  entirely  distinct  topics  at 
one  and  the  same  time.  The  story  is  told  of 
Sir  Edwin  Landseer  drawing  two  things  simul- 
taneously. With  one  hand  he  sketched  the  head 
of  a  stag  and  with  the  other  the  head  of  a  horse. 
On  these  grounds  it  is  asserted  that  the  two 
halves  of  the  brain  may  be  trained  to  work 
independently.  It  has  even  been  hinted  that 
one  may  be  got  to  play  a  stiffly  contested  game 
of  chess  with  oneself,  or  carry  on  a  hot  political 
argument  between  the  right  hemisphere  and  the 
left. 

Other  advantages  are  claimed.  Ambidexterity 
insures  against  fatigue  and  accident.  One  hand 
can  rest  while  the  other  works.  If  either  hand 
were  injured  or  paralysed,  the  other  could  act 
as  a  substitute.  With  the  ordinary  man  the 
left  hand  is  a  bad  understudy  to  the  right. 
Lombroso  found  criminals  in  many  instances 
exhibiting  an  extraordinary  degree  of  physical 
lop-sidedness. 

In  view  of  the  demerits  of  what  we  may 
call  unidexterity,  or  one-handedness,  the  Ambi- 
dextral Culture  Society  strongly  urge  that  the 


138    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

children  in  our  schools  be  taught  to  write,  draw, 
paint,  sew,  and  use  the  various  manual  training 
tools  with  both  hands  equally. 

What  are  the  real  facts  of  the  case?  It  is 
estimated  that  the  bulk  of  European  adults 
(about  ninety-seven  out  of  every  hundred)  are 
right  -handed,  and  the  rest  left-handed.  Mr. 
John  Jackson,  the  secretary  of  the  Ambidextral 
Culture  Society,  asserts  that  97  per  cent,  of 
English  people  are  right-handed,  17  per  cent, 
congenitally  right-handed,  3  per  cent,  congeni- 
tally  left-handed,  and  80  per  cent,  naturally 
either-handed.  It  would  thus  seem  that  some 
are  born  right-handed,  some  achieve  right- 
handedness,  and  some  have  right-handedness 
thrust  upon  them.  Most  children,  according 
to  Mr.  Jackson,  show  no  initial  tendency  towards 
the  preferential  use  of  either  hand,  but  are 
trained  by  their  mothers,  nurses,  and  teachers 
to  use  the  right  hand  in  conformity  with  social 
custom. 

The  opponents  of  ambidexterity  deny  that  any 
child  is  naturally  ambidextrous,  and  contend  that 
before  he  is  able  to  walk,  before  he  is  one  year 
old,  he  shows  unmistakable  signs  of  unidexterity. 

Baldwin,  referring  to  experiments  with  his 
young  child,  states  that  "  a  distinct  preference 
for  the  right  hand  in  violent  efforts  in  reaching 
became  noticeable  in  the  seventh  and  eighth 
months."  l 

Some  observations  on  the  development  of 
right-handedness  in  a  normal  infant  have 

"  Mental  Development  in  the  Child  and  the  Race,"  p.  64. 


AMBIDEXTERITY  139 

recently  been  made  by  Mrs.  Helen  T.  Woolley.1 
Her  conclusions  agree  with  Baldwin's.  She 
found  that  during  the  seventh  month  the  right 
hand  was  invariably  used  whenever  it  was  neces- 
sary to  stretch  forward  in  order  to  reach  the 
object.  When  the  object  grasped  was  within 
easy  reach  it  seemed  impossible  to  discover  by 
mere  casual  observation  which  hand  pre- 
dominated ;  but  when  the  cases  of  grasping  were 
counted  it  was  found  that  out  of  400  cases  the 
right  hand  was  used  206  times  and  the  left 
194.  Towards  the  close  of  the  seventh  month, 
however,  the  preference  for  using  the  right  hand 
became  more  marked.  These  observations  sup- 
port the  view  that  right-handedness  is  a  normal 
part  of  physiological  development,  and  is  not 
to  be  adequately  explained  by  training. 

The  truth  seems  to  be  that  all  mankind  have 
an  inherent  tendency  to  use  one  hand  more  than 
the  other  (generally  the  right),  that  this  tendency 
is  much  stronger  in  some  people  than  others,  that 
it  matures  within  the  first  few  years  of  infancy, 
and  becomes  fixed  by  imitation  and  practice. 
Everybody,  in  fact,  is  either  a  born  dextral  or  a 
born  sinistral.  The  few  who  seem  to  approach 
the  ambidextral  ideal  are  probably  left-handed 
people  who  have  endeavoured  to  conceal  their 
sinistrality. 

The  left  hand  of  the  ordinary  mortal  is  much 

maligned  by   the  ambidextral   culturists.      They 

call  the  right  hand  the  useful  hand  and  the  left 

the   useless.      Such   a    distinction   is    manifestly 

1  The  Psychological  Review,  January  1910,  pp.  37-41. 


140     HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL   MEDIUM 

absurd.  Ask  a  pianist,  or  a  violinist,  or  a  sur- 
geon, or  a  tinker,  or  a  tailor,  or  indeed  anybody 
of  normal  physique,  whether  he  finds  the  left 
hand  useless.  Keep  the  left  hand  in  a  sling 
for  a  day  and  note  the  consequences.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  two  hands  collaborate  :  they 
share  between  them  the  business  of  the  hour. 
And  in  any  given  piece  of  work  each  has  its 
own  special  duties  to  perform  ;  and  by  thus 
specializing  each  acquires  its  own  particular  kind 
of  skill.  If  you  try  to  eat  your  dinner  with  the 
knife  in  your  left  hand  and  the  fork  in  your 
right,  you  will  find  the  right  hand  just  as  awk- 
ward with  the  fork  as  the  left  is  with  the  knife. 
There  are  some  things  which  you  can  only  do 
with  your  left  hand — scratch  your  right  elbow  for 
instance.  And  there  are  many  things  that  one 
can  do  with  greater  facility  with  the  left.  It  is 
true  that  the  left  generally  plays  the  humbler 
role,  but  it  is  a  role  necessary  for  the  success  of 
the  piece.  In  fact  the  two  hands  rarely  act  as 
independent  units  :  they  form  a  partnership,  and 
there  is  between  them,  as  there  should  be,  a  dif- 
ferentiation of  function. 

Many  observers  have  thought  that  they  have 
discovered  some  sort  of  dextrality  or  sinistrality 
among  animals.  Livingstone,  for  instance,  held 
a  belief  that  all  lions  were  left-footed.  But 
these  opinions  are  unsupported  by  evidence. 
Even  if  there  were  an  inherent  superiority  in  one 
limb  over  another,  such  superiority  would  be 
difficult  to  detect,  for  even  a  man's  right-handed- 
ness or  left-handedness  is  concealed  from  us 


AMBIDEXTERITY  141 

until  we  see  him  use  a  tool  of  some  sort,  such  as 
a  pen,  a  knife,  or  a  hammer.  It  is  indeed 
probable  that 'if  man  had  not  been  a  tool-using 
animal  he  would  never  have  known  his  right 
hand  from  his  left.  It  is  confidently  asserted 
by  Grant  Allen  that  primitive  man  was  ambi- 
dextrous. He  bases  his  assertion  on  the  ground 
that  the  cave  man  drew  just  as  often  and  just 
as  well  with  his  left  hand  as  with  his  right. 
If  you  take  a  pencil-stump  between  your 
finger  and  thumb  and  try  to  draw  a  human 
profile  in  the  most  natural  way,  you  will  find 
the  face  turned  towards  your  left  shoulder,  ; 
if  you  try  with  your  left  hand  the  face 
will  be  turned  towards  the  right.  Children 
and  savages  always  draw  in  this  way.  The 
earliest  men  of  whom  we  have  any  definite 
and  scientific  knowledge  were  wont  to  etch  with 
sharpened  flint  on  bone  or  ivory  the  profiles  of 
men  and  beasts  turned  indiscriminately  to  the 
right  or  to  the  left.  The  inference  is  that  they 
were  ambidextrous.  But  the  inference  is  not 
irresistible,  for  unless  it  could  be  shown  that 
the  animals  looking  rightward  and  the  animals 
looking  leftward  were  drawn  by  the  same  artist, 
the  utmost  that  the  evidence  could  be  made  to 
prove  would  be  that  left-handed  people  were 
more  numerous  in  those  days  than  in  modern 
times.  The  balance  of  probability  is,  however, 
in  favour  of  Grant  Allen's  theory.  It  is  fairly 
certain  that  if  we  could  get  far  enough  back — if 
we  could  get  to  the  time  when  mankind  first 
assumed  the  upright  posture,  we  should  find  the 


142     HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

bulk  of  them  ambidextrous,  or,  if  you  prefer 
to  call  it  so,  ambisinistrous.  They  were  equally 
awkward  with  both  hands.  How  then  did  the 
race  become  right-handed?  There  are  really 
two  questions  involved.  First,  how  did  ambi- 
dertrous  people  become  unidextrous?  Secondly, 
why  should  unidexterity  have  taken  the  almost 
universal  form  of  right-handedness?  Regard- 
ing the  matter  from  the  point  of  view  of  natural 
selection,  it  is  clear  that  in  the  struggle  for  sur- 
vival the  unidextrous  people  must  have  possessed 
some  sort  of  advantage  over  the  ambidextrous, 
and  of  the  unidextrous  the  right-handed  some  sort 
of  advantage  over  the  left-handed.  What  was  the 
nature  of  this  advantage?  It  is  useless  seeking 
for  an  explanation  within  historic  times,  for 
right-handedness  was  well  established  in  the 
human  race  long  before  the  earliest  period  of 
which  we  have  any  written  record.  No  tribe 
or  nation,  savage  or  civilized,  has  ever  been  dis- 
covered which  is  not  predominantly  right- 
handed.  Even  the  seven  hundred  left-handed 
Benjamite  slingers  referred  to  in  the  Book  of 
Judges  formed  less  than  three  per  cent,  of  the 
whole  tribal  army.  Dr.  F.  W.  Mott  maintains 
that  the  ambidextrous  savage  would  show  some 
degree  of  hesitation  at  critical  moments — 
moments  when  to  hesitate  would  be  fatal.  If, 
for  instance,  at  the  sudden  approach  of  an  enemy 
he  showed  the  slightest  indecision  as  to  which 
hand  he  should  use  for  picking  up  his  spear, 
he  would  give  his  enemy  the  overwhelming 
advantage  of  getting  in  the  first  blow.  It  is  not 


AMBIDEXTERITY  143 

implied  that  he  would  stand  like  the  hypothetical 
donkey  between  two  bundles  of  hay  ;  it  is  not 
implied  that  there  would  be  conscious  delibera- 
tion on  his  part  ;  but  it  is  implied  that  where 
there  were  two  equally  permeable  channels  of 
customary  response  to  a  given  situation,  the 
actual  response  would  not  be  of  such  lightning 
rapidity  as  it  would  be  if  there  were  only  one 
channel.  And  this  is  a  case  in  which  a  fractional 
part  of  a  second  might  make  all  the  difference 
there  is  between  slayer  and  slain.  As  the  dog- 
gerel rhymster  puts  it  :— 

Thrice  is  he  armed  who  hath  his  quarrel  just — 
But  blest  be  he  who  gets  his  fist  in  first. 

There  is  another,  and  more  cogent,  reason  why 
the  unidexter  should  be  better  fitted  for  survival 
than  the  ambidexter.  He  was  more  skilful. 
There  is  no  ground  for  thinking  that  the  earliest 
members  of  the  race  exercised  their  bodies  with 
the  conscious  aim  of  acquiring  bodily  prowess. 
The  only  practice  they  got  was  forced  upon 
them  by  the  pressure  of  circumstance.  In  hand- 
to-hand  contest  with  his  kind,  or  in  the  pre- 
carious hunt  for  animals  that  supplied  food  or 
clothing,  a  premium  was  laid  upon  bodily  skill. 
His  life  depended  on  success  in  the  one  sphere, 
his  livelihood  on  success  in  the  other.  The  time 
devoted  to  practice  was  therefore  virtually  the 
same  in  all  cases.  And  given  the  same  amount 
of  time,  the  degree  of  skill  attained  by  practice 
with  one  hand  only  would  be  greater  than  if  the 
practice  were  distributed  between  the  two  hands. 


144    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

This  accounts  for  the  extinction  of  the  ambi- 
dextrous ;    but  how  are  we  to   account  for  the 
fact  that  unidexterity  took  the  almost  universal 
form  of   right-handedness?      The   most   reason- 
able explanation  seems  to  be  that  right-handed 
people  were  better  able  to  protect  the  heart.     We 
cannot     suppose     that     it     took     our     primeval 
ancestors  very  long  to  discover  that  wounds  on 
the  left  side  of  the  body  were  more  dangerous 
than  those  on  the  right.     Even  before  the  use  of 
weapons  it  was  probably  observed  that  a  well- 
directed  blow  over  the  left  breast  was  sometimes 
sufficient  to  cause  death.     The  fighter  (for  what- 
ever else  he  was,  primitive  man  was  of  neces- 
sity  a    fighter)    had    therefore    to    protect    that 
specially  vulnerable   region   at   all   costs.      This 
was  done  with  the  left  arm  while  the  right  did 
the   bulk  of  the  fighting.      When  man  became 
sufficiently  civilized  to  use  weapons  of  war,  the 
shield  was  held  on  the  left  arm  so  as  to  cover 
the  heart,   and  the  right  hand  was   set  free  to 
do  what  execution  it  could  with  club,  spear,  or 
sword.      Thus    did    the    right    hand    acquire    an 
adroitness   which   the   left   hand  had   no   oppor- 
tunity  of   acquiring.      And   thus    did    the    right 
hand  begin  to  gain  its  superiority  over  the  left. 
The     balance     between     right     and     left     once 
destroyed,   the  growing  arts  and  industries  but 
tended  to  make  the  disparity  wider  and  wider. 
To  account  for  the  facts  it  is  not  necessary  to 
assume  the  transmission  of  personally  acquired 
characteristics,   for  natural   selection — the   dying 
off   of    the    unfit — affords    a    sufficient    principle 
of  explanation. 


AMBIDEXTERITY  145 

The  tendency  to  weed  out  the  left -handed 
by  such  drastic  methods  as  natural  selection 
implies  would  become  less  and  less  as  civilization 
advanced  ;  for  in  the  pursuit  of  the  arts  of 
peace  the  left-handed  man  would  suffer  no  dis- 
ability. Some  slight  social  prejudice  still  re- 
mains— a  prejudice  made  manifest  in  the  various 
meanings  that  have  clustered  round  the  word 
"  sinister."  Nor  is  left-handedness  without 
certain  minor  disadvantages.  These  are 
mainly  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  excep- 
tional. As  one  example  out  of  many,  I  may 
mention  that  the  ticket  pocket  in  a  man's  coat 
is  so  placed  as  to  be  readily  accessible  by  the 
right  hand  only.  The  left-handedness  of  to-day 
has  probably  been  transmitted  down  the  ages 
from  very  remote  ancestors.  The  theory  of 
its  hereditary  nature  is  supported  by  the  fact 
that  it  tends  to  recur  in  certain  families. 

Thus  has  Nature  presented  us  with  a  standard 
of  values.  She  gives  the  first  place  to  right- 
handedness  ;  left-handedness  comes  second,  and 
ambidexterity  makes  a  bad  third.  Many  are 
inclined  to  accept  Nature's  pronouncement  as 
final.  Grant  Allen,  for  instance,  is  emphatic  on 
the  point  : — 

"  Man's  special  use  of  the  right  hand  is  one  of 
his  points  of  superiority  to  the  brutes.  If  ever 
his  right  hand  should  forget  its  cunning,  his 
supremacy  would  indeed  begin  to  totter.  De- 
pend upon  it,  Nature  is  wiser  than  even  Charles 
Reade.  What  she  finds  most  useful  in  the  long 
run  must  certainly  have  many  good  points  to 
recommend  it." 

10 


146    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

Ruskin,  whose  prejudice  against  Darwinism 
was  as  deep-rooted  as  Grant  Allen's  prejudice 
in  its  favour,  found  justification  for  his  fondness 
for  the  Gothic  curve  in  the  fact  that  Nature  had 
multiplied  it  in  all  the  grasses  of  the  field  and 
all  the  leaves  of  the  forest.  Abraham  Lincoln's 
rebuke  to  the  man  who  called  him  common- 
looking  was  dignified  and  just  :  "The  Almighty 
prefers  common-looking  people — that's  why  He 
made  so  many  of  them."  Apart  from  any  re- 
ligious implication,  Lincoln's  remark  embodies 
a  deep  biological  truth.  Nature  has  set  her 
imprimatur  upon  the  many. 

But  we  are  not  obliged  to  accept  Nature's 
standard  of  values.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  man 
never  has  accepted  it  since  the  days  when  he 
first  evolved  an  ethical  creed.  Not  in  Nature 
are  to  be  found  the  springs  of  "  admiration, 
hope,  and  love,"  but  in  man. 

Matthew  Arnold  strikes  a  true  note  when  he 
says  : — 

Man  must  begin,  know  this,  where  Nature  ends ; 
Nature  and  man  can  never  be  fast  friends. 

We  talk  glibly  about  the  survival  of  the 
fittest,  often  forgetting  that  "fittest"  merely 
means  "  fittest  to  survive."  There  have  been 
conditions  under  which  the  finest  flower  of 
humanity  could  not  possibly  flourish,  when 
Nature  put  a  premium  on  those  harder  and 
cruder  qualities  which  h'ave,  since  the  advent 
of  Buddhism  and  Christianity,  had  to  take  a 
much  lower  place  in  the  scale  of  virtues.  Man's 


AMBIDEXTERITY  147 

social  values  do  not  equate  with  Nature's  values. 
To  the  brute  creation  Nature  is  indeed  a  mother 
— a  cruel  mother  often,  but  still  a  mother  ;  to 
man,  whose  spiritual  nature  is  of  alien  birth, 
she  is  at  best  nothing  more  than  a  kindly  step- 
mother. Man  is  not  entirely  the  victim  of  cir- 
cumstances ;  he  makes  circumstances  for  him- 
self. He  is  not  only  adapting  himself  to  his 
environment  ;  he  is  constantly  adapting  his 
environment  to  himself.  In  fact,  he  imposes 
his  own  ideals  upon  Nature,  and  is  himself 
becoming  a  more  and  more  important  factor 
in  determining  the  general  trend  of  things. 
There  is  no  finality,  therefore,  in  Nature's 
verdict.  It  may  well  be  that  the  conditions 
necessitating  the  extinction  of  the  ambidextrous 
no  longer  exist,  and  that  characteristics  which 
were  impossible  in  primeval  times  are  not  only 
possible  but  desirable  in  these  latter  days. 

On  evolutionary  grounds  alone,  therefore,  I 
should  not  be  inclined  to  condemn  the  ambi- 
dextral doctrine.  If  there  were  no  other  reasons 
for  rejecting  it  I  should  regard  it  to  be  at 
least  worthy  of  careful  experiment.  But  there 
are  other  reasons — reasons  connected  with  the 
mechanism  of  speech. 

In  the  literature  dealing  with  ambidexterity 
it  has  frequently  been  urged  by  the  opponents 
of  the  doctrine  that  interference  on  the  part  of 
parents  and  teachers  with  the  natural  unidex- 
terity  of  children  sometimes  gives  rise  to  a 
serious  disturbance  of  the  function  of  speech  ; 
that  the  interference  generally  takes  the  form  of 


148    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL   MEDIUM 

an  attempt  to  break  a  child  of  what  is  regarded 
as  a  "  habit"  of  left-handedness,  and  the  dis- 
turbance takes  the  form  of  stammering.  But 
although  this  statement  has  frequently  been 
made,  and  striking  individual  instances  have  been 
cited,  there  has  never,  so  far  as  I  am  aware, 
been  any  attempt  to  ascertain  statistically  the 
prevalence  of  stammering  among  normal  people, 
and  to  compare  therewith  the  proportion  of 
stam'merers  found  among  people  whose  natural 
sinistrality  has  not  been  allowed  free  scope. 
Nor  has  there  been  any  research  respecting 
the  degree  (if  any)  to  which  the  speech  function 
is  disorganized. 

The  problem  has  been  brought  home  to  me 
by  sporadic  cases  of  stammering  (a  term  which 
I  use  in  its  broad  sense  as  including  stuttering) 
which  come  under  my  notice  while  inspecting 
schools.  Some  years  ago,  for  instance,  I  came 
across  two  pronounced  cases  in  the  same  school. 
Both  were  naturally  left-handed  boys  who, 
having  learnt  to  write  with  the  left  hand,  had 
been  constrained  by  their  teachers  to  change  it 
for  the  right  ;  and  both  had  acquired  the 
stammer  during  their  school  career.  I  accord- 
ingly made  three  distinct  investigations  into  the 
matter,  two  in  London  and  one  in  Glamorgan. 

In  the  spring  of  1911,  I  issued  a  question- 
naire to  the  head  teachers  of  some  of  the 
elementary  schools  of  South  London,  asking  for 
certain  information  respecting  left-handed, 
ambidextrous,  and  s tampering  children.  The 
early  returns  that  came  in  showed  at  once  that 


AMBIDEXTERITY  149 

the  terms  left-handed  and  ambidextrous  were 
ambiguous.  In  some  schools  there  were  reported 
to  be  several  ambidextrous  and  no  left-handed 
children,  and  in  others  several  left-handed  but 
no  ambidextrous  children.  It  was  found  neces- 
sary, therefore,  to  omit  the  question  referring 
to  ambidexterity.  I  felt  the  less  reluctant  to 
abandon  this  part  of  the  inquiry  as  a  personal 
examination  of  several  of  the  cases  convinced  me 
that  a  child  alleged  to  be  ambidextrous  always 
showed  a  preference  for  one  particular  hand  in 
learning  a  new  act  of  skill.  It  confirmed  the 
view,  in  fact,  that  a  so-called  ambidexter  is 
merely  a  congenitally  left-handed  person  who 
has  acquired  such  skilled  activities  as  writing 
and  drawing  with  the  right  hand.  It  was  further 
necessary  to  define  left-handedness,  for  I  found 
that  some  teachers  were  inclined  to  regard  a 
boy  who  usually  performed  even  one  skilful 
act,  such  as  bowling  or  using  a  knife,  with  the 
left  hand  as  a  left-handed  boy.  The  reference 
of  the  term  was  therefore  limited  to  those  chil- 
dren who  performed  with  the  left  hand  all  the 
common  dexterities,  except  those  that  they  had 
been  forced  to  acquire  with  the  right  hand. 
The  terminology  of  this  topic  is  in  sad  confusion, 
and  I  have  n;o  desire  to  add  to  the  confusion  by 
using  new  terms.  Still,  to  avoid  clumsy  phrase- 
ology, I  propose  to  use  the  term  dextral  to  mean 
a  right-handed  person  ;  sinistral,  a  left-handed 
person  ;  pure  sinistral,  a  person  whose  left- 
handedness  has  never  been  interfered  with  ;  and 
dextro -sinistral,  a  congenitally  left-handed 


ISO    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

person      who      has      conformed      with      social 
custom  in  writing  with  the  right  hand. 

The  results  of  the  inquiry  were  as  follows  : — 


Children  observed          13,189 

Dextrals 12,644 

Sinistrals ...  545 

Dextro-sinistrals 399 

Stammerers          160 

Dextro-sinistral  stammerers     17 


According  to  these  returns  over  4  per  cent, 
are  sinistral.  This  percentage  is  higher  than 
the  usual  estimate  ;  but  the  number  includes 
many  who  would  be  regarded  by  some  people 
as  ambidextrous.  Of  the  total  number  about 
3  per  cent,  are  dextro-sinistrals.  Apart  from 
any  preconceived  theory  of  the  cause  of  stam- 
mering we  should  naturally  therefore  expect 
about  3  per  cent,  of  the  stammerers  to  fall 
within  that  group.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
however,  the  percentage  is  not  3  but 
nearly  1 1 .  < 

Again,  the  percentage  of  stammerers  among 
the  total  number  observed  is  1*2,  among  pure 
dextrals  and  pure  sinistrals  ri,  and  among 
dextro-sinistrals  4*3.  This  indicates  that  stam- 
mering is  about  four  times  as  frequent  among 
dextro-sinistrals  as  among  the  rest  of  the 
children.  After  these  statistics  had  come  in  I 
conceived  the  idea  of  obtaining  similar  data 
concerning  a  different  type  of  child.  I  accord- 
ingly made  inquiries  at  seven  schools  attended 


AMBIDEXTERITY  151 

exclusively  by  mentally-defective  children,  and 
obtained  the  following  figures  : — 

Children  observed 944 

Dextrals          882 

Sinistrals        ...         ...         ...  62 

Dextro-sinistrals       47 

Stammerers 23 

Dextro-sinistral  stammerers          9 

Here  the  results  are  more  striking.  Sinistrality 
reaches  6J  per  cent.,  and  while  only  5  per 
cent,  of  the  children  are  dextro-sinistral,  39 
per  cent,  of  the  stammerers  belong  to  that  group. 
The  percentage  of  stammerers  among  the  dextro- 
sinistrals  and  the  non-dextro-sinistrals  reaches 
19  and  1*56  respectively  ;  that  is,  it  is  about 
twelve  times  as  great  among  the  former  ,as 
among  the  latter.  The  schools  selected  for  this 
inquiry  were  of  varied  types,  and  in  each  case 
all  the  children  in  each  department  were  taken 
into  consideration. 

It  may  be  contended  that  the  figures  do  not 
necessarily  support  the  hypothesis  that  there  is 
some  connection  between  stammering  and  inter- 
ference with  the  natural  "  handedness  "  of  a 
child  ;  but  rather  that  there  is  a  connection 
between  stammering  and  left -handedness.  The 
detailed  returns,  however,  lend  no  colour  to  this 
alternative  view,  for  most  of  the  cases  of  pure 
sinistrality  occur  in  a  few  schools  where  the  head 
teachers  are  in  sympathy  with  the  views  expressed 
at  the  close  of  this  chapter,  and  in  these  cases 
there  happen  to  be  no  left-handed  stammerers. 


152    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

I  was  not  altogether  satisfied  with  this  investi- 
gation,, as  it  was  only  a  small  percentage  pf 
the  cases  that  I  personally  examined. 

In  the  early  part  of  this  year  (1912)  I  m!ade 
a  careful  examination  of  322  distinctly  left- 
handed  children.  All  doubtful  cases  were  re- 
jected. The  total  number  of  children  in 
attendance  at  the  schools  from  which  these 
sinistrals  were  drawn  amounted  to  1 1,939.  This 
is  the  outcome  of  the  inquiry  : — 

Boys.        Girls.         Total. 

Total  number  of  children  6,181  5,758  11,939 

Pure  sinistrals  25  26  51 

Dextro-sinistrals  ...  193  78  271 

Pure  sinistral  stammerers o  o  o 

Dextro-sinistrals  who  stammered  at 

time  of  inquiry 32  14  46 

Dextro-sinistrals  who  stammered 

earlier  in  their  school    career 

but  not  at  time  of  inquiry  ...  21  3  24 

The  evidence  for  the  earlier  stamtnering  re- 
ferred to  above  rests  mainly  on  the  confession 
of  the  children  ;  but  as  they  seemed  to  be 
somewhat  ashamed  of  the  defect,  and  disposed 
to  conceal  it  as  far  as  possible,  there  seems  to 
be  no  reason  for  doubting  their  word. 

It  is  seen  that  the  percentage  of  sinistrals  is 
2*7,  or,  separating  the  sexes,  3*5  for  boys  and 
1*8  for  girls.  It  is  frequently  mentioned  in 
medical  books  that  stammering  is  far  more 
prevalent  among  men  than  among  women.  The 
more  fundamental  fact  seems  to  be  that  left- 
handedness  is  far  more  common.  There  are 


AMBIDEXTERITY  153 

probably  about  twice  as  many  left-handed  men 
as  there  are  left-handed  women. 

Among  the  dextro-sinistrals  17  per  cent,  stam- 
mer at  present  and  25*8  per  cent,  have  stam- 
mered during  some  period  in  the  past.  They 
are  not  all  cases  of  bad  and  persistent  stamimer- 
ing.  In  many  instances  indeed  the  child 
stammered  merely  when  reading  aloud  or  when 
excited  in  some  way. 

It  is  highly  significant  that  among  those  cases 
where  no  serious  attempts  had  been  made  to 
change  the  skilful  hand,  not  a  single  instance 
of  stamtnering  appeared. 

The  reader  will  not  fail  to  be  struck  with 
the  marked  discrepancies  between  the  results 
of  the  two  inquiries.  These  discrepancies  are 
due  to  differences  in  the  fields  of  inquiry  and 
in  the  methods  of  investigation.  The  first  in- 
quiry dealt  with  all  children  ranging  from!  the 
ages  of  4  to  14  ;  the  second  was  limited  to 
children  between  8  and  14.  There  was  some 
overlapping  of  the  school  areas,  many  of  the 
children  concerned  in  the  first  inquiry  appearing 
again  in  the  second  ;  but  much  new  ground 
was  covered.  The  more  important  factor, 
however,  was  the  method  of  procedure.  A 
questionnaire  is  often  perfunctorily  and  care- 
lessly answered.  In  the  second  investigation 
the  selection  of  sinistrals  was  stringent  and  the 
tests  and  inquiries  thorough.  The  second  results 
are  consequently  far  more  reliable. 

Indeed,  these  results  receive  further  con- 
firmation from  the  outcome  of  a  third  inquiry 


154    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

which  I  was  enabled,  by  the  courtesy  of  the 
Glamorgan  Education  Committee,  to  carry  out 
in  the  county  of  Glamorgan.  There  were  in 
this  case  a  new  and  independent  class  of 
observers — the  head  teachers  of  schools  in  the 
rural  parts  of  South  Wales— and  a  type  of  child 
widely  different  in  heredity,  environment,  and 
up -bringing  from  that  with  which  my  previous 
inquiries  were  concerned.  The  statistics  for 
Glamorgan  are  as  follows  : — 

Boys.        Girls.         Total. 

Total  number  of  children 4,858  4,345  9,203 

Pure  sinistrals 26  21  47 

Dextro-sinistrals  ...  130  30  160 

Pure  sinistral  stammerers i  i  2 

Dextro-sinistrals  who  stammered  at 

time  of  inquiry 12  6  18 

Dextro-sinistrals  who  stammered 

earlier  in   their    school  career 

but  not  at  time  of  inquiry   ...  6  i  7 

Here  again  it  is  evident  that  the  percentage 
of  dextro -sinistral  stammerers  is  much  higher 
than  a  mere  chance  distribution  would  warrant 
us  to  expect.  Precisely  the  same  is  true  of 
statistics  I  have  obtained  from  the  Director  of 
Education  for  Brighton. 

If  it  is  true  that  stammering  is  caused  by  a 
change  from  left  to  right  ;  then  a  change  back 
ought  to  have  the  effect  of  stopping  the  stam- 
mering. In  February  1912  I  selected  a  number 
of  cases  of  dextro -sinistral  stammerers  and  asked 
the  head  teachers  to  allow  them  to  write  and 
draw  with  the  left  hand  exclusively,  to  keep 
them  under  observation,  and  to  report  to  me 


AMBIDEXTERITY  155 

the  effect  upon  the  speech.  In  nearly  every 
case  the  parents  objected  :  they  did  not  want 
their  children  to  write  with  the  left  hand.  In 
ten  cases,  however,  the  parents  raised  no  objec- 
tions, and  the  result  after  eighteen  months  is 
as  follows  : — 

In  two  cases  the  change  had  no  effect. 
In  two  cases  there  was  a  slight  improvement. 
In  five  cases  there  was  a  marked  improvement. 
In  one  case  the  child  was  almost  completely  cured. 

The  following  case  reported  to  me  by  the 
head  teacher  of  one  of  the  schools  is  clearly 

evidential  :  "  D B came  to  this  school 

on  February  2,  1908,  and  entered  Standard 
VI.  On  admission  she  stammered,  was  left- 
handed,  and  had  been  made  to  write  with  the 
right  hand.  For  two  years  she  was  allowed  to 
use  her  left  hand,  and  the  stammering  dis- 
appeared. Her  parents  then  stated  their  in- 
tention of  sending  her  to  the  C—  -  (secondary) 
school,  and  finding  on  inquiry  she  would  be 
compelled  to  use  the  right  hand,  I  advised 
practice.  Hesitancy  in  speech  followed  and 
slight  stammering.  She  left  on  July  10,  1911." 

In  view  of  all  this  evidence  it  seems  impossible 
to  escape  the  conclusion  that  some  sort  of  con- 
nection exists  between  "  handedness  "  and  the 
motor  mechanism  of  speech,  so  that  a  dis- 
turbance of  the  former  gives  rise  to  a  dis- 
turbance of  the  latter — a  conclusion  which  sug- 
gests a  further  problem.  Is  the  disturbance 
confined  to  the  physiological  apparatus  con- 


156    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

cerned  in  the  production  of  articulate  speech, 
or  does  it  extend  further  and  invade  the  com- 
plex psycho -neural  realm  concerned  in  verbal 
imagery  and  thought?  In  other  words,  is  the 
general  lingual  efficiency  of  the  sinistral  impaired 
by  interference  with  his  sinistrality? 

Dr.  G.  M.  Gould  records  the  case  of  a 
naturally  left-handed  friend  who  was  compelled 
when  a  child  to  write  with  his  right  hand. 
For  all  other  acts  he  was  left-handed.  All 
through  his  life  he  hated  writing,  and  never 
seemed  to  be  able  to  use  his  pen  and  his  brain 
at  the  same  time.  If  he  tried  to  write  while 
thinking  there  was  a  positive  inhibition  of 
thought.  But  as  soon  as  he  laid  down  his  pen 
and  started  dictating  to  a  stenographer,  his 
ideas  flowed  freely  and  rapidly.1  Doctor  X— 
told  me  the  case  of  his  little  boy,  whose  speech 
was  delayed  for  two  years  by  what  he  now 
regards  as  an  ill-advised  attempt  to  change  the 
child's  sinistrality.  It  was  to  solve  this  more 
general  question  of  the  relation  between  speech 
and  sinistrality  that  the  second  investigation  was 
originally  made.  I  strongly  suspected  that  the 
lingual  ability  of  dextro-sinistrals  was  below  the 
normal,  but  the  results  of  my  researches  have 
entirely  falsified  my  expectations.  Two  queries 
were  raised  :  First,  How  does  the  lingual  effi- 
ciency of  the  child,  as  disclosed  by  his  success 
at  the  terminal  examinations  in  reading,  com- 
position, recitation,  etc.,  compare  with  the  class 
average  in  these  branches?  Secondly,  How  does 

1  Appleton's  Popular  Science  Monthly,  October  1904. 


AMBIDEXTERITY  157 

his  lingual  ability  compare  with  his  abilities 
in  other  directions,  such  as  mathematics  and 
drawing?  The  tabulated  results  are  as  follows  :— 

ABC  A1  B1  C1 

Pure  sinistrals    ...     49        12        39     ...     47        18        35 
Dextro  -  sinistrals    45         16        39     ...     42        22        36 

A    =  Percentage  of  children  whose  marks  in  English  were 

above  the  class  average. 

B    =  Percentage  with  marks  equal  to  the  class  average. 
C    =  Percentage  with  marks  below  the  class  average. 
A1  =  Percentage  of  children  with  marks  for  literary  subjects 

higher  than  the  marks  for  other  subjects. 
B1  =  Percentage  with  about  equal  marks  for  both  kinds  of 

ability. 
C1  =  Percentage  with  lower  marks  for  literary  subjects. 

These  results  tend  to  indicate  that  sinistrals, 
as  a  class,  are  in  no  way  deficient  in  their 
general  power  of  verbal  expression  ;  for 
although  the  pure  sinistrals  are  better  than  the 
dextro -sinistrals,  both  are  better  than  the 
dextrals.  The  numbers  are  manifestly  too  small 
to  justify  us  in  pressing  this  inference,  for  the 
superiority  in  the  cases  examined  may  be  acci- 
dental. The  results  were  so  unexpected  that 
I  obtained  further  data  which  would  serve  as 
some  sort  of  check.  I  obtained  records  of  the 
position  on  the  last  terminal  examination  lists 
of  43  pure  sinistrals  and  187  dextro -sinistrals, 
and  found  that  a  position  in  the  first  half  of  the 
list  was  held  by  25  pure  sinistrals  and  104 
dextro  -sinistrals .  ;  that  is  by  58-1  per  cent,  of 
the  former  and  55-6  per  cent,  of  the  latter. 

If  the  numbers  may  be  taken  as  typical,  they 


158    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

point  to  a  slight  deterioration  both  in  lingual 
and  in  general  ability,  resulting  from  attempts 
to  make  sinistrals  ambidextrous. 

We  must  now  consider  the  dextro-sinistral 
stammerers  as  a  separate  class.  Dr.  Edward 
Conradi  gives  statistics  to  show  that  stutterers 
are,  as  a  rule,  backward  in  their  school  work.1 
This  retardation  he  believes  to  be  due  to  psychic 
depression  brought  about  by  the  mockery  to 
which  the  child  is  exposed.  If  this  explanation 
is  sound,  the  backwardness  would  be  a  secondary 
effect  and  not  an  immediate  and  inevitable  effect 
of  that  which  caused  the  stuttering.  My  own 
results  are  at  variance  with  Dr.  Conradi's.  The 
marks  obtained  by  the  stammerers  in  English, 
which  includes  reading  and  recitation,  are,  as 
might  be  expected,  rather  low  ;  but  in  general 
ability,  as  indicated  by  the  class  lists,  they  are, 
on  the  whole,  rather  above  than  below  the 
average.  My  researches,  however,  were  limited 
to  dextro  -sinistrals . 

The  conclusion  at  which  we  arrive  on  the 
general  question  is  that  although  dextro -sinis- 
trality  tends  to  give  rise  to  stammering,  there 
is  little  or  no  evidence  that  it  produces  a  wider 
disturbance  of  the  function  of  speech,  beyond 
what  stammering  itself  inevitably  entails. 

How  is  the  stammering  to  be  explained? 
Brain  physiology  is  clearly  indicated  as  the 
ultimate  ground  of  explanation.  But  before  we 
enter  this  speculative  region,  it  would  be  well 

1  See  Journal  o*  Educational  Psychology ,  vol.  iii.  No.  i, 
PP-  35-8- 


AMBIDEXTERITY  159 

to  determine  what  are  the  facts  of  dextral  and 
sinistral  asymmetry  that  are  open  to  common 
observation.  What  are  the  phenomena  that  go 
together?  Are  all  the  organs  on  one  side  of 
the  body  more  efficient  than  the  corresponding 
organs  on  the  other  side?  Does  the  superiority 
refer  to  the  organs  of  movement  alone,  or  does 
it  refer  to  the  organs  of  sensation  as  well? 
Does  dextropedality,  for  instance,  always  ac- 
company dextromanuality?  And  what  is  the 
nature  of  dextrocularity?  Dr.  Gould,  in  the 
article  referred  to  above,  asserts  that  the  root 
fact  is  dextrocularity.  He  regards  the  pre- 
dominance of  the  right  eye  as  the  initial  fact  of 
dextrality.  We  are  right-handed  because  we 
are  right-eyed.  In  playing  the  fiddle,  for 
instance,  the  fingering  is  done  with  the  left 
hand,  for  it  is  thus  that  the  right  eye  can 
the  better  observe  the  movements.  If  this 
theory  were  sound,  one  would  expect  to  find 
the  correlation  between  dextrocularity  and 
dextromanuality  to  be  nearly  absolute.  Right- 
handed  people  would  be  right-eyed,  and  left- 
handed  left -eyed.  By  means  of  a  simple  instru- 
ment constructed  out  of  a  cigar-box  I  tested  the 
eyesight  of  several  children  with  a  view  to  dis- 
covering the  dominant  eye.  It  is  obvious  that 
an  experiment  of  this  kind  is  complicated  by 
peculiarities  of  vision  due  to  astigmatism,  dif- 
ferent focal  lengths  for  the  two  eyes,  and  so 
forth.  An  effort  was  therefore  made  to  select 
children  whose  eyesight  seemed  to  be  normal. 
The  lid  of  the  cigar -box  was  fastened  and  the 


160    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

ends  of  the  box  removed  so  that  it  formed  a  sort 
of  rectangular  tube.  Over  the  middle  of  each 
open  end  a  piece  of  black  thread  was  stretched. 
The  child  tested  was  asked  to  take  the  box  in 
both  hands,  look  through  it,  and  adjust  it  in  such 
a  way  that  the  two  threads  covered  one  another 
and  were  seen  as  one.  The  60  boys  tested  in 
this  way  seemed  to  secure  the  alignment  without 
much  difficulty  ;  46  used  the  right  eye,  and 
14  the  left.  Out  of  the  74  girls  tested  in  the 
same  way,  48  used  the  right  eye  and  12  the  left, 
and  14  failed  entirely  to  see  both  threads  as 
one.  The  only  left-handed  girl  among  them 
used  the  right  eye.  The  girls  were  on  the  whole 
very  much  slower  in  "  sighting  "  the  threads  than 
the  boys. 

The  same  sort  of  experiment  was  made  in 
another  school,  with  the  difference  that  the  box 
rested  on  a  table  and  the  children  were  not 
allowed  to  touch  it  with  their  hands.  The  results 
tended  to  confirm  my  suspicion  that  in  the  pre- 
vious experiment  the  right  hand  tended  to  drag 
the  box  towards  the  right  eye  ;  for  in  this  case 
only  33  boys  out  of  60  used  the  right  eye,  and 
only  35  girls  out  of  60.  In  all  these  cases  the 
children  were  right-handed.  Out  of  41  left- 
handed  children  tested  in  the  same  way  23  used 
the  right  eye. 

The  figures  lend  support  to  the  view  that  the 
preference  among  school  children  for  the  use  of 
the  right  eye  is  but  slight  and  in  no  way  com- 
parable with  the  preference  for  the  use  of  the 
right  hand,  and  (as  far  as  my  own  figures  are 


AMBIDEXTERITY  161 

concerned)  the  right-eyedness  has  no  essential 
connection  with  dextrality. 

In  my  recent  examination  of  sinistrals,  I 
carefully  tested  their  vision  with  a  view  to 
finding  the  "  fixing  "  eye.  I  found  it  best  to 
discard  all  apparatus  and  to  adopt  the  follow- 
ing simple  plan.  The  child  was  asked  to  stand 
at  the  one  end  of  the  room  while  I  sat  at  the 
other  and  covered  my  left  eye.  He  was  then 
told  to  stretch  out  his  arm,  and  with  both  eyes 
open,  point  to  my  right  eye.  I  could,  as  a 
rule,  tell  immediately  which  eye  he  was  using 
for  the  alignment.  This  test  was  repeated  in 
various  forms,  such  as  by  pointing  with  the  other 
hand,  or  forming  a  loop  with  the  thumb  and 
index  finger  and  looking  at  my  eye  through  the 
loop.  The  result  was  generally  quite  definite  : 
one  eye  was  persistently  used  for  purposes  of 
alignment.  Of  the  51  sinistrals  thus  tested,  57 
per  cent,  proved  to  be  right -eyed,  and  43  per 
cent,  left-eyed.  The  corresponding  percentages 
for  the  dextro -sinistrals  were  55  and  45. 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  this  theory  of 
the  priority  of  dextrocularity  (or  sinistrocularity) 
is  disproved  by  facts  that  can  easily  be  verified. 
If  the  theory  could  be  established  it  would  fail 
to  support  the  doctrine  that  the  fundamental 
source  of  all  dextral  phenomena  is  the  superior 
development  of  the  left  cerebral  hemisphere,  and 
of  all  sinistral  phenomena  the  superior  develop- 
ment of  the  right  cerebral  hemisphere.  For 
the  anatomical  relations  between  the  eyes  and 
the  cerebral  hemispheres  are  of  an  entirely 

ii 


162    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

different  nature  from  the  relations  between  the 
hands  and  the  hemispheres.  The  right  eye  is 
not,  like  the  right  hand,  connected  with  the  left 
hemisphere  only  :  it  is  connected  with  both 
hemispheres,  the  nerve  fibres  from  the  right 
half  of  each  retina  proceeding  to  the  right  hemi- 
sphere, and  the  fibres  from  the  left  half  to  the 
left  hemisphere.  To  be  right-eyed  is  not,  there- 
fore, as  in  the  case  of  right-handedness,  to  be 
left-brained. 

Another  fatal  objection  to  the  theory  is  to  be 
found  in  the  fact  that  among  people  born  blind 
the  proportion  of  dextrals  and  sinistrals  is  about 
the  same  as  among  sighted  people.  This  same 
objection  holds  against  the  hypothesis  put  for- 
ward by  Mr.  H.  C.  Stevens,  who  claims  that 
certain  experiments  made  by  him  indicate  that 
a  difference  in  the  perception  of  size  exists  be- 
tween the  right  and  left  halves  of  the  retinae 
of  both  eyes.1  When  two  discs  of  equal  size 
were  so  presented  that  the  image  of  one  would 
fall  on  the  margin  of  the  right  half  of  the  retina, 
and  the  image  of  the  other  on  the  margin  of  the 
left,  the  disc  to  the  right  of  the  observer  was 
generally  judged  to  be  the  larger.  Mr.  Stevens 
made  183  observations  altogether,  and  found 
that  to  100  persons  the  right  disc  appeared 
larger  to  both  eyes,  and  to  45  persons  the  left 
disc  appeared  larger  to  both  eyes.  Of  the  100 
persons  to  whom  the  right  disc  appeared  larger, 
76  were  right-handed,  8  ambidextrous,  and  16 

1  "  Right-handedness  and  Peripheral  Vision/   Science,  N.S., 
vol.  xxvii.  pp.  272-3   (1908), 


AMBIDEXTERITY  163 

left-handed.  Of  the  45  persons  to  whom  the 
left  disc  appeared  larger,  I  5  were  right-handed, 
3  ambidextrous,  and  27  left-handed.  Mr. 
Stevens  cites  these  figures  in  support  of  his 
theory  that  if  the  reflex  arc  concept  is  valid,  the 
ascendancy  of  the  left  hemisphere  must  in  the 
first  instance  exist  in  the  sensory  neurons. 
"  Where  there  is  motor  bilateral  asymmetry  there 
must  first  be  sensory  bilateral  asymmetry."  He 
explains  the  development  of  right-handedness  by 
saying  that  "  objects  situated  in  the  right  half  of 
the  field  of  vision  of  a  left-hemisphered  infant 
would,  by  appearing  larger,  attract  its  attention." 
"  The  fact  that  the  predominant  use  of  the  right 
hand  is  developed  by  trial  and  error  is  against 
the  assumption  that  there  is  a  natural  prepotency 
in  the  path  of  discharge  into  the  right  arm.  If 
it  were  merely  reflex  there  would  be  no  period 
of  uncertainty  in  which  both  arms  are  usedi. 
A  fact  which  supports  the  view  suggested  here 
is  that  the  time  (7  months)  at  which  pronounced 
right-handedness  developed  in  Baldwin's  child 
was  but  a  little  later  than  the  time  (5  months) 
at  which  Raehlmann  found  that  an  object  was 
recognized  when  its  image  fell  on  the  periphery 
of  the  retina." 

The  fact  that  people,  blind  from  birth,  ex- 
hibit the  same  dextral  or  sinistral  proclivities 
as  normal  people,  disproves  that  Mr.  Stevens 
has  discovered  the  fundamental  factor.  It  may 
be  further  pointed  out  that  the  judgments  of  size 
involve  the  higher  mental  processes,  and  that 
they  were  made,  as  was  inevitable,  biy  subjects 


164    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

whose  dextrality  or  sinistrality  had  already  been 
developed.  There  is  no  proof  of  asymmetric 
sensibility  pure  and  simple  in  the  retina,  still 
less  is  there  proof  of  a  particular  kind  of  casual 
nexus  between  retinal  sensibility  and  right  or 
left-handedness.  A  may  be  the  cause  of  B, 
or  it  may  be  its  effect,  or  both  may  be  the  effect 
of  a  common  cause. 

Is  there  evidence  of  greater  tactual  sensi- 
bility on  one  side  of  the  body  than  on  the  other? 
Or  that  right-handed  or  left-handed  people  hear 
better  on  different  sides?  In  the  absence  of 
such  evidence  we  must  confine  our  attention  to 
the  motor  phenomena.  It  will  readily  be  ad- 
mitted that  finer  kinaesthetic  discrimination 
necessarily  accompanies  the  more  complex  motor 
co-ordinations  involved  in  the  superior  skill 
acquired  by  hand  or  foot,  but  the  physiological 
factors  open  to  ordinary  observation  are  motor 
rather  than  sensory. 

It  can  be  shown  that  right -footedness  gene- 
rally goes  with  right-handedness,  and  left-foot- 
edness  with  left-handedness.  Since  it  is  but  rare 
that  any  delicate  act  of  skill  has  to  be  per- 
formed by  the  foot,  it  is  very  difficult  to  ascer- 
tain which  is  the  more  dextrous  of  the  two. 
Out  of  1 5  3  children  who  were  tested  in  jumping 
I  found  that  94,  or  62  per  cent.,  made  the  leap 
with  the  right  leg.  The  percentage  of  those 
who  used  the  right  leg  increased  somewhat  with 
the  ages  of  the  boys.  In  playing  football  about 
75  per  cent,  of  the  boys  showed  a  preference 
for  the  use  of  the  right  leg.  It  may  well  be 


AMBIDEXTERITY  165 

doubted  whether  in  the  matter  of  jumping  and 
kicking,  the  element  of  skill,  as  distinct  from 
strength,  is  sufficiently  pronounced  to  serve  as 
a  criterion  of  dexterity.  The  muscular  develop- 
ment of  the  legs  is  brought  about  almost 
exclusively  by  exercise  in  walking  ;  and  as  each 
leg  gets  an  equal  amount  of  practice  there  is 
but  little  reason  to  anticipate  that  in  mere  feats 
of  strength  preference  would  be  given  to  either 
leg.  I  myself,  for  instance,  seem  to  use  both 
legs  indiscriminately  for  jumping  and  for  kick- 
ing a  ball,  but  I  find  by  trying  to  write  with  my 
feet  (an  art  which  is  not  difficult  to  acquire) 
that  I  have  much  greater  control  over  my  right 
foot  than  my  left.  The  testimony  of  some  of 
my  friends,  whom  I  have  induced  to  experiment 
in  the  same  way,  accords  with  my  own. 

In  my  more  recent  examination  of  sinistrals 
I  endeavoured  in  each  case  to  discover  the  more 
skilful  leg.  I  had  to  rely  mainly  on  the  judg- 
ment of  the  children  themselves.  The  majority 
of  the  left-handed  boys  were  emphatic  in  stating 
that  they  could  play  football  more  skilfully  with 
the  left  leg  than  the  right.  It  was,  as  a  rule, 
more  difficult  to  get  a  decided  statement  from 
the  girls.  The  children  were  further  requested 
to  trace  out  words  on  the  floor  with  their  feet, 
and  to  state  which  foot  they  could  the  more 
easily  control.  A  few  boys  were  put  to  write 
and  draw  with  their  feet,  by  means  of  pencil 
and  paper.  This,  of  course,  involved  taking  off 
shoes  and  stockings  and  was  open  to  certain 
objections.  Moreover,  it  was  quite  impossible 


166    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

to  tell  from  an  examination  of  the  results  which 
of  the  two  feet  was  the  more  skilful  :  they 
seemed  equally  awkward.  This  method  was 
consequently  abandoned.  By  applying  the  other 
two  methods  I  found  that  88  per  cent,  of  the 
pure  sinistrals  were  left -footed,  and  86  per  cent. 
of  the  dextro -sinistrals.  It  is  not  improbable 
that  if  acts  of  greater  skill  were  required  of  the 
foot  a  still  higher  degree  of  correlation  between 
hand  and  foot  would  be  revealed. 

We  seem  justified  in  concluding  that  the  hand 
and  the  foot  on  the  same  side  of  the  body  are 
related  to  the  same  group  of  dextral  or  sinistral 
phenomena.  Since  these  organs  are  connected 
with  the  same  cerebral  hemisphere,  it  is  a 
reasonable  hypothesis  that  other  organs  whose 
movements  are  controlled  by  the  same  hemi- 
sphere partake  of  the  samfe  sort  of  asymrnetry. 
That  the  vocal  muscles  are  concerned  in  dextral 
and  sinistral  asymmetry  is  a  commonplace  of 
physiology.  Although  these  organs  are  anatomi- 
cally connected  with  each  hemisphere  they  are, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  functionally  connected  with 
one  only.  The  researches  in  aphasic  disorder 
have  established  the  fact  that  the  vocal  organs 
are  normally  controlled  by  the  superior  hemi- 
sphere— by  the  hemisphere  that  controls  the  skil- 
ful hand  and  foot.  Dextrals  have  their  speech 
centres  in  the  left  hemisphere  and  sinistrals  in 
the  right.  Sinistrality,  therefore,  affects  the 
motor  co-ordinations  of  the  right  arm,  the  right 
leg,  and  the  vocal  apparatus  ;  and  functionally 
connected  with  them  all  is  the  right  hemisphere. 


AMBIDEXTERITY  167 

How  does  this  sinistral  system  hang  together? 
How  did  the  asymmetry  originate  in  the  life  of 
the  individual?  Was  it,  as  Plato  thought,  and 
as  the  modern  advocates  of  ambidexterity  teach, 
a  mere  matter  of  accident  or  training  that  {he  left 
hand  started  to  gain  an  advantage  over  the 
right?  And  did  the  left  hand  then  educate  the 
right  hemisphere  and  the  right  hemisphere  trans- 
mit the  advantage  to  the  left  foot?  Or  was  the 
left-handed  child  born  with  a  right  cerebral 
hemisphere  slightly  different  in  structure  and 
in  function  from  the  left?  Modern  physiology 
favours  the  latter  view,  and  regards  the  basal 
fact  of  dextrality  or  sinistrality  to  consist  in 
congenital  cerebral  asymmetry. 

Sir  James  Crichton -Brown  ascribes  all  dex- 
tral  and  sinistral  phenomena  to  the  root  fact 
that  the  hemispheres  differ  in  shape  and  func- 
tion. The  two  halves  of  a  rabbit's  brain  are 
as  indistinguishable  as  the  two  cheeks  of  a 
young  baby  ;  but  in  the  brain  of  an  anthropoid 
ape  there  begins  to  appear  a  lack  of  symtoetry 
in  the  ridges  and  hollows  of  the  two  hemi- 
spheres. This  divergence  is  seen  to  increase 
as  we  pass  to  higher  and  higher  types  until  it 
reaches  its  maximum  in  the  brain  of  civilized 
man.  And  this  difference  in  structure  is  the 
correlative  of  a  difference  in  function.  Sir  James 
accepts  Dr.  Hughlings  Jackson's  doctrine  that 
in  ordinary  people  the  left  hemisphere  is  the 
more  voluntary  and  the  right  the  more  auto- 
matic. This,  and  this  alone,  accounts  for  the 
ascendancy  of  the  rigiht  hand  and  the  unilateral 


t68    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

position  of  the  speech  centres.  He  says  we  can 
go  no  further  :  we  must  accept  this  cerebral 
peculiarity  as  an  inexplicable  and  ultimate  fact. 
We  are  here  face  to  face  with  another  form  of 
the  old  problem  of  the  chicken  and  the  egg. 
Which  came  first?  Did  the  supremacy  of  the 
left  hemisphere  secure  the  supremacy  of  the 
right  hand?  Or  did  the  preferential  use  of 
the  right  hand  secure  in  the  course  of  ages  a 
better  education  for  the  left  hemisphere? 

Are  we  now  in  a  position  to  give  a  physio- 
logical explanation  of  the  prevalence  of  stam- 
mering among  dextro-sinistrals?  To  the  facts 
adduced  above  must  be  added  the  teaching  of 
physiology  regarding  the  special  cortical  centres 
concerned  in  speech.  It  is  a  generally  accepted 
theory  that  there  are  in  the  normal  adult  four 
highly  specialized  centres  involved — the  auditory, 
visual,  vocal,  and  graphic  word  centres,  and  that 
these  four  centres  are  situated  in  the  dominant 
hemisphere.  The  sinistral  system1  of  the  left- 
handed  child,  who  can  speak  but  has  not  started 
writing,  contains  as  related  factors  a  superior 
right  cerebral  hemisphere  in  which  have  been 
developed  two  sensory  and  one  niotor  speech 
area  and  a  superior  left  hand.  If  this  left  hand 
is  used  in  the  acquisition  of  the  art  of  writing, 
a  writing  centre  is  believed  to  be  developed  to 
accompany  the  other  three  in  the  dominant 
hemisphere.  But  what  happens  when  the  right 
hand  is  used  for  writing?  We  are  driven  to 
assume  that  in  this  case  the  writing  centre  forms 
in  the  inferior  hemisphere.  But  how  can  this 


AMBIDEXTERITY  169 

in  itself  give  rise  to  stamlmering?  The  mere 
establishment  of  a  highly  specialized  centre  in 
the  inferior  hemisphere  is  not  in  itself  a  suffi- 
cient cause.  It  is  difficult  not  to  believe  that 
a  centre  is  so  formed  in  the  case  of  a  right- 
handed  violinist,  and  no  special  tendency  to 
stammer  is  observable  among  this  class  of 
people.  The  secret  probably  lies  in  the  inti- 
mate functional  connection  of  the  writing  centre 
with  the  system  of  word  centres,  and  particu- 
larly with  the  speaking  centre.  Whenever 
writing  takes  place  all  the  language  centres  are 
probably  active,  ideationally  if  not  perceptually, 
and  the  extent  to  which  nascent  or  partial  articu- 
lation accompanies  writing  depends  upon  the 
type  of  child.  The  pathological  explanation  of 
stamtnering  is  obscure,  but  there  is  little;  doubt 
that  the  motor  speech  area  is  the  seat  of  the 
disorder.  No  lesion  is  discoverable  :  the  defect 
is  functional  merely,  thus  differing  from  all 
forms  of  aphasia.1  There  is  no  lack  of  effort, 
no  lack  of  innervation — of  a  kind  ;  but  the 
current  runs  into  the  wrong  channels.  The 
right  co-ordinations  are  not  promptly  brought 
about.  This  may  conceivably  be  due  to  two 
causes.  Either  the  special  motor  area  itself  is 
enfeebled,  in  which  case  the  defect  is  analogous 
to  the  stammering  of  young  children  when  they 
first  learn  to  speak  ;  or  there  is  some  sort  of 
functional  conflict  leading  to  inhibition,  hesi- 

1  It  is  held  by  Th.  Hoepfner,  however,  that  stuttering  is 
momentary  aphasia  due  to  associational  defects.  (Quoted  in 
the  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology  for  January  1912,  p.  53.) 


170    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

tancy,  or  stammering.  What  precisely  happens 
in  the  case  of  dextro-sinistral  stammering  is 
purely  conjectural.  It  may  be  that  the  writing 
centre  alone  is  formed  in  the  left  hemisphere, 
or  it  may  be  that,  as  some  have  contended,  the 
writing  centre  "  drags  "  the  other  centres  to 
its  own  side  ;  or  it  may  further  happen  that,  as 
the  advocates  of  ambidexterity  affirm,  two  sets 
of  speech  centres  are  developed,  one  in  each 
hemisphere.  In  any  one  of  these  cases  it  is 
conceivable  that  the  dominant  speech  area  is 
either  robbed  of  some  of  its  energy,  or  that  some 
sort  of  competition  takes  place  which  tends  to 
disorganize  its  function.  These  speculations, 
however,  cannot,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  be 
either  confirmed  or  refuted  by  established 
physiological  facts.  It  is  more  profitable  there- 
fore at  present  to  pass  on  to  the  practical  issues. 
If  we  neglect  the  question  of  social  conformity 
it  is  clear  that  there  is  nothing  to  be  gained  by 
trying  to  make  a  left-handed  child  right-handed. 
There  is  a  grave  risk  of  stammering  resulting 
from  the  change  ;  and  there  is  no  gain  in  mental 
power.  It  is  true  that  the  ordinary  parent  and 
teacher  do  not  encourage  the  cultivation  of  the 
sinistral's  right  hand  with  a  view  to  improving 
his  mental  capacity,  but  merely  with  a  view  to 
removing  a  peculiarity  ;  but  the  members  of 
the  Ambidextral  Culture  Society  do  maintain 
that  both  hands  should  be  so  cultivated  as  to 
be  able  to  perform:  all  skilful  acts  interchange- 
ably. And  the  reason  alleged  is  that  brain 
power  is  considerably  increased  thereby.  More- 


AMBIDEXTERITY  171 

over,  attempts  have  been  made  to  introduce 
ambidextral  drawing  and  writing  into  the  ele- 
mentary schools.  I  am  not  here  concerned  with 
refuting  the  doctrine  of  ambidexterity,  but  with 
pointing  out  that  the  sinistral  may  be  changed 
into  a  dextro -sinistral  by  the  unsophisticated 
parent  or  by  the  cultured  advocate  of  ambidex- 
terity. The  former  tries  to  make  the  boy  write 
exclusively  with  his  right  hand,  the  latter  tries 
to  make  him  write  with  both  interchangeably, 
or  even  simultaneously.  Both  types  of  sinistrals 
were  examined  by  me  in  my  recent  investigation, 
the  child  who  then  preferred  writing  with  his 
right  hand,  and  the  child  who  used  his  left  when 
nobody  was  watching  him  ;  and  both  types 
seemed  equally  inclined  to  stammer.  It  appears, 
therefore,  that  no  kind  of  interference  with  the 
natural  sinistrality  of  a  child  is  educationally 
justifiable. 

And  if  this  be  so  it  is  reasonable  to  infer  that 
attempts  to  interfere  with  the  natural  dextrality 
of  a  child  would  be  fraught  with  equal  danger, 
and  that  ambidexterity,  if  it  can  be  achieved, 
is  liable  to  bring  with  it  a  serious  disability. 

Let  us  examine  a  little  more  closely  the 
alleged  advantages  of  ambidexterity. 

It  is  first  of  all  asserted  that  we  should  be 
more  generally  useful  if  we  were  equally  dex- 
terous with  both  hands.  Surgeons  and  boiler- 
makers  are  instanced  as  finding  left-handed 
skill  extremely  serviceable.  If  all  the  boys  and 
girls  in  our  schools  were  destined  to  be  surgeons 
or  boiler -makers  the  argument  might  be  worth 


172    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

considering.  There  is,  in  fact,  no  objection 
to  training  the  left  hand  in  its  own  sphere  of 
usefulness  ;  for  the  usefulness  of  the  left  hand 
is,  as  a  rule,  different  in  kind  from  the  usefulness 
of  the  right.  The  left  hand  is  useful  for  steady- 
ing the  paper  while  the  right  hand  holds  the  pen, 
for  holding  the  cigar  while  the  right  hand  /applies 
the  lighted  match,  and  for  playing  on  the  piano 
the  notes  in  the  bass  clef  while  the  right  hand 
deals  with  the  notes  in  the  treble  clef.  Instances 
of  this  differentiation  of  work  may  be  multiplied 
indefinitely.  There  is  a  certain  low  level  of 
serviceableness  which  both  hands  may  profit- 
ably attain.  We  ought,  for  instance,  to  be  able 
to  pass  the  butter  just  as  readily  with  the  left 
hand  as  with  the  right.  But  when  it  comes  to 
delicate  manipulation  we  wisely  specialize. 

The  next  contention,  that  we  can  double  our 
brain  power  by  merely  training!  the  left  hand  is 
quite  unsupported  by  evidence.  There  is  no 
proof  that  the  trained  ambidexter  has  one  jot 
more  intellectual  capacity  than  he  had  when 
he  was  unidextrous.  He  can  write  two  scripts 
at  the  same  time.  But  that  is  a  mere  trick. 
The  specimens  that  appear  in  Mr.  Jackson's  book 
on  Ambidexterity  are  entirely  unconvincing. 
They  reveal  no  originality,  except  in  spelling. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  they  were  not  really 
simultaneous,  but  merely  alternate.  A  bit  of 
A  was  written,  and  then  a  bit  of  B,  then  another 
bit  of  A  and  anoth'er  bit  of  B  and  so  forth. 
Even  if  the  two  writings  seemed  to  be  severally 
continuous,  it  is  evident  that  the  thinking  was  not 


AMBIDEXTERITY  173 

continuous.  The  attention  was  not  split  up  into 
t\yo  parts,  each  part  undertaking  its  own  special 
task  ;  it  simply  oscillated  from  one  task  to  the 
other.  Genuine  cases  of  dual  personality  and  of 
split-off  consciousness  are  not  unknown  to 
psychologists.  But  these  are  pathological. 

We  are  told  that  ambidexterity  is  a  kind 
of  insurance  against  injury  to  the  right  hand. 
It  is  the  logic  of  the  old  lady  who  bought  at  a 
sale  half  a  dozen  crutches,  on  the  ground  tha£ 
they  would  come  in  very  useful  should  her  dear 
husband  happen  to  get  his  leg  broken. 

The  word  "  lop-sided  "  continually  recurs  in 
the  literature  of  the  ambidextrians  as  a  term  of 
reproach.  Nature,  they  say,  has  made  us  sym- 
metrical, but  we  have  made  ourselves  lop-sided. 
But  has  Nature  made  us  symmetrical?  In 
internal  structure  we  are  terribly  out  of  balance. 
Even  the  two  halves  of  our  brain  are  not 
similarly  convoluted.  And  if  Nature  has  made 
us  structurally  one-sided,  why  not  functionally 
as  well?  Nature,  indeed,  has  no  great  love 
for  either  absolute  similarity  or  absolute  sym- 
metry. She  does  not  like  to  repeat  herself 
without  some  variation — not  even  on  both  sides 
of  a  straight  line.  She  draws  no  line  down 
the  middle  :  she  designs  no  South  Kensington 
drawing  copies.  Let  us  be  content,  then,  to 
remain  a  little  lop-sided  like  the  rest  of  Nature's 
handiwork,  remembering — if  it  gives  us  any 
consolation — those  words  of  Bacon  so  constantly 
quoted  by  Edgar  Allan  Poe  :  "  There  is  no 
exquisite  beauty  without  some  strangeness  in 


174    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

the  proportion/'  So  in  the  matter  of  beauty, 
dear  reader,  a  soupgon  of  lop-sidedness  is  one's 
only  chance.  It  is  said  that  the  swiftest  runners 
have  limped  a  little  :  one  leg  has  been  a  trifle 
stronger  than  the  other.  And  the  most  artistic 
of  nations,  such  as  the  Assyrians  and  the  Greeks, 
have  shown  the  most  pronounced  tendency  to 
dextrality.  The  Japanese,  far  from  being  the 
ambidextrous  race  they  are  asserted  to  be  by 
the  ambidextrians,  are  so  inveterately  right- 
handed  that  when  Jingors,  one  of  their  great 
wood-carvers,  was  found  to  be  left-handed,  they 
nick-named  him  Hidari— the  Sinister.1  Among 
the  great  masters  of  painting  in  Europe,  Leon- 
ardo da  Vinci  was  the  one  left-handed  excep- 
tion. And  there  were  no  ambidexters.  Nor 
is  there  any  record  of  a  left-handed  or  ambi- 
dextrous sculptor. 

Why,  we  are  asked  by  the  ambidextral  cul- 
turists,  should  our  speech  centres  be  confined 
to  one  half  of  the  cerebrum?  Why  should  we 
not  have  two  series,  one  in  each  hemisphere? 
They  assert  that  the  speech  centres  have  been 
dragged  to  one  side  by  an  artificially  acquired 
right-handedness.  Even  if  we  admit  that  down 
the  long  line  of  human  evolution  the  right 
hand  has  been  instrumental  in  establishing  the 
supremacy  of  the  left  hemisphere,  we  can  admit 
the  existence  of  no  such  potency  in  the  right 
hand  of  the  individual.  The  supremacy  of  the 
left  hemisphere  is  now  innate — it  takes  the  lead 
by  right  of  heredity.  It  is  very  possible  that 

1  See  Sir  James  Crichton- Browne's  lecture  on  Ambidexterity. 


AMBIDEXTERITY  175 

the  speech  centres  are  of  necessity  unilateral, 
that  they  cannot  co -exist  in  both  hemispheres. 
This  is  a  point  upon  which  physiologists  have 
not  yet  enlightened  us.  Human  ambidexters 
are  few,  and  their  brains  have  not  been  available 
for  examination  and  experiment.  The  only 
ambidexters  that  have  been  vivisected,  such  as 
monkeys  and  rabbits,  have  had  no  speech  centres 
at  all. 

We  arrive,  therefore,  by  a  variety  of  routes 
at  the  conviction  that  the  Ambidextrians  are 
wrong  ;  and  that  their  doctrines  are  opposed 
to  the  requirements  of  social  and  industrial  co- 
operation, and  to  the  teachings  of  modern 
biological  science.  Civilization  and  right- 
handedness  have  arrived  together.  The  history 
of  the  one  is  the  history  of  the  other.  And  as 
the  members  of  the  body  politic  have  shown 
a  progressive  tendency  to  specialize,  so  have 
the  members  of  the  body  physical.  That  way 
efficiency  lies.  Apart  from  considerations  of 
manual  skill,  the  gift  of  dextrality  is  bound  up 
with  the  gift  of  speech.  The  cerebral  springs 
of  speech  are  one  system,  just  as  the  soul  is 
one  and  attention  is  one.  To  disorganize 
dextrality  is  to  deprive  this  lingual  system  of 
some  of  its  natural  stimulus,  and  possibly  to 
imperil  its  unity.  Let  not  the  right  hand,  nor 
yet  the  left,  forget  its  cunning  ;  neither  let 
one  hand  usurp  the  province  of  the  other. 


PEDAGOGICAL   APPLICATIONS 

BEFORE  particular  pedagogical  problems  can 
profitably  be  discussed,  it  is  necessary  to 
formulate  clearly  the  aim  the  teachers  should 
have  in  view  when  introducing  handwork  into  the 
curriculum.  The  narrow  utilitarian  aim  of  pre- 
paring for  a  specific  life  occupation  may  be 
dismissed  without  comment.  The  ideal  of 
manual  dexterity — a  general  handiness — may  be 
rejected  on  the  ground  that  it  rests  on  a  dis- 
credited form  of  the  doctrine  of  formal  training. 
Within  the  limited  period  of  the  ordinary  boy's 
school  life  it  is  only  possible  to  develop  manual 
skill  in  a  few  specific  directions.  The  acquisition 
of  skill  in  any  direction  is  not  to  be  underrated. 
It  is  better  to  be  handy  in  doing  plain  house- 
hold carpentry,  or  plumbing,  than  to  be  entirely 
at  the  mercy  of  the  carpenter  and  the  plumber. 
Skill  in  drawing  or  painting  or  modelling  is  a 
thing  which  no  one  can  afford  to  despise.  Each 
school  occupation,  if  wisely  chosen,  has  a  real 
intrinsic  value.  But  that  is  not,  from  the  point 
of  view  of  a  liberal  education,  its  main  value; ; 
for  this  consists  in  the  degree  to  which  it 
ministers  to  the  growth  of  the  pupil's  whole  per- 
sonality. The  supreme  aim  of  manual  train- 
ee 


PEDAGOGICAL  APPLICATIONS  177 

ing  should  be  to  increase  the  pupil's  power  of 
adjustment  to  his  physical,  social,  and  spiritual 
environment.  It  should  be  regarded  as  a  means 
of  general  culture — of  mental,  moral,  and 
aesthetic  development.  Its  significance  should 
extend  beyond  the  mere  control  of  that  portion 
of  the  physical  universe  with  which  the  particular 
exercise  is  concerned,  and  invade  the  region  of 
ideas,  emotions,  and  purposes.  It  should  in 
some  way  help  to  turn  a  self -minded  creature 
into  a  social-minded  creature.  In  following 
those  lines  of  instinctive  activity  which  subserve 
worthy  ideals,  it  should  aid  in  the  realization 
of  the  highest  self.  What  we  precisely  believe 
that  highest  self  to  be  depends  upon  our  re- 
ligious or  ethical  creed  ;  but  all  will  agree  that 
it  should  be  at  least  a  rational  self,  and  a  social 
self.  But  the  manual  work  actually  done  in  the 
schools  is,  as  a  rule,  far  from  satisfying  this 
ideal.  As  regards  aim,  method,  and  material, 
general  confusion  reigns.  In  the  elementary 
school  we  have  in  operation  two  systems  which 
are  diametrically  opposed  to  one  another.  The 
elder  boys  attend  a  woodwork  centre,  the  in- 
fants engage  in  kindergarten  occupations.  In 
the  middle  part  of  the  school,  it  may  be  noted, 
there  was  until  quite  recently  no  specific  hand- 
work except  drawing.  The  woodwork  done  at 
the  manual  training  centre  is  a  logically  worked 
out  system.  The  exercises  are  carefully  gradu- 
ated. They  proceed  from  simple  to  complex. 
They  are  devised  with  the  object  of  acquiring 
mastery  over  the  material  and  mastery  over  the 

12 


178    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

tools.  The  acquisition  of  skill  is  the  aim  the 
teacher  has  primarily  in  view.  He  may  have  a 
secondary  aim.  He  may  believe,  and  he  probably 
does  believe,  that  the  manual  work  develops 
intelligence  as  well  ;  but  he  does  not  think  of 
this  in  devising  or  working  out  a  scheme.  What 
he  asks  himself  is  this  :  How  can  I  most  rapidly 
and  effectively  give  this  boy  mastery  over  this 
branch  of  handicraft?  The  standpoint  is  the 
standpoint  of  the  adult  who  wishes  to  gain  the 
rudiments  of  a  trade.  The  child,  his  instinctive 
tendencies,  his  interests,  his  desires,  are  entirely 
left  out  of  account.  It  does  not  matter  whether 
the  boy  likes  the  course  or  not  ;  it  does  not 
matter  .whether  he  is  interested  in  it  or  not  ;  it 
does  not  matter  whether  the  object  made  is 
such  as  he  would  spontaneously  make — as  he 
would  make  if  left  to  his  own  resources.  What 
does  matter  is  that  his  manual  dexterity  should 
be  trained  by  an  orderly  sequence  of  exercises. 
The  occupations  in  the  infants'  school  are  of 
quite  a  different  character.  Here  there  is  no 
ordered  system,  no  careful  gradation  of  exercises, 
no  adherence  to  one  medium  of  expression.  No 
attempt  is  made  to  give  the  child  perfect  mastery 
over  any  instrument  or  any  material.  The 
primary  aim  of  the  teacher  is  not  the  acqui- 
sition of  skill,  but  the  clarifying  and  vitalizing 
of  ideas.  It  is  true  that  skill  is  incidentally 
acquired,  but  the  important  thing  is  that  the 
child  should  make  his  ideas  clear,  vivid,  and 
usable,  by  indulging  his  innate  tendency  to  ex- 
press them  in  a  variety  of  media.  The  manual 


PEDAGOGICAL  APPLICATIONS  179 

work  in  the  infants*  school  is  expressional  work. 
A  child  is  interested  in  making  anything  ;  he  is 
still  more  interested  in  making  something  which 
serves  some  purpose  ;  he  is  most  interested  of 
all  in  making  something  which  serves  his  own 
purpose.  Thus  the  manual  work  in  the  infants' 
school  grows  naturally  out  of  the  child's  life  in 
the  home  and  the  school.  It  has  no  independent 
basis  of  its  own.  Cut  adrift  from  the  rest  of  the 
mental  life  of  the  child  it  becomes  a  meaningless 
jumble  of  exercises.  To-day  he  sketches  a 
daffodil  with  coloured  crayons,  to-morrow  he 
models  a  rabbit  in  plasticine,  and  the  following 
day  he  makes  a  little  basket  of  bast.  There  is 
no  continuity  in  these  exercises.  They  are  not 
connected  with  one  another  :  they  are  merely 
connected  with  the  intellectual  course  set  forth 
for  the  child.  It  is  not  denied  that  there  is  an 
attempt  at  gradation  in  the  clay  modelling,  paper 
folding,  etc.,  but  the  gradation  is  subservient 
to  the  main  idea— the  idea  that  the  work  is 
expressive,  that  it  is  a  practical  way  of  assimi- 
lating knowledge. 

It  will  be  seen  that  these  two  principles  are 
poles  asunder.  While  one  aims  at  giving  the 
child  control  over  matter,  the  other  aims  at 
giving  him  control  over  mind  ;  in  the  one  we  have 
motor  training  as  an  end  in  itself,  in  the  other 
the  motor  training  is  a  means  to  some  other 
end.  In  the  one  mechanical  skill  is  aimed  at, 
and  the  intellectual  training  becomes  incidental  ; 
in  the  other  intellectual  training  is  aimed  at,  and 
the  mechanical  skill  is  incidental.  In  the  one 


i8o    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

the  intellectual  interests  of  the  child  are  not 
taken  into  account  ;  in  the  other  the  intellec- 
tual interests  of  the  child  form  the  one  deter- 
mining factor  in  the  selection  of  the  kind  of 
exercise.  In  the  one,  accuracy  forms  the  basis 
by  which  progress  can  be  gauged  ;  in  the  other, 
accuracy  forms  a  very  inadequate  criterion  of 
progress.  You  cannot  tell  by  merely  looking  at 
a  thing  made  by  a  boy  how  much  brains  he  has 
put  into  it. 

It  is  clear  that  the  general  aim  which  I  have 
formulated  finds  completer  fulfilment  in  the  kin- 
dergarten than  in  the  woodwork  centre. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  deal  seriatim  with  some 
of  the  more  important  problems  that  arise  in 
the  teaching  of  handwork. 


IS    HANDWORK   A    SUBJECT   OR 
A   METHOD? 

THIS  is  a  problem  which  has  given  rise  to 
much  controversy.  Those  who  hold  that  hand- 
work is  a  method  deny  that  it  has  in  itself  much 
educational  value,  and  affirm  that  its  value 
mainly  consists  in  illustrating,  in  making  real 
and  vivid,  and  in  other  ways  serving  as  ancillary 
to,  the  teaching  of  other  subjects.1  They  con- 
tend that  its  worth  is  instrumental  rather  than 
intrinsic,  that  the  child  learns  by  doing  ;  not 
merely  that  he  learns  to  do  by  doing,  but  that 
he  learns  to  think  and  feel  by  doing.  On  this 
view  there  should  be  no  specific  time  allotted  to 
clay  modelling,  cardboard  modelling,  raffia  work, 
woodwork,  etc.,  but  these  exercises  should  form 
essential  parts  of  the  lessons  in  arithmetic,  geo- 
graphy, science,  etc.  There  should  be  as  com- 
plete a  fusion  as  possible  between  the  intellectual 
and  the  constructional  elements  of  each  subject 
of  instruction. 

Those  who,  on  the  other  hand,  regard  hand- 
work as  a  "  subject,"  maintain  that  it  should  be 
taught  for  its  own  sake,  and  should  have  a 

1  Mr.  H.  Holman  criticizes  this  use  of  the  word  method  in 
reference  to  handwork  in  his  "  Hand  and  Eye  Training " 
(second  edition),  p.  87.  Dr.  Percy  Nunn's  terms  "sub- 
stantive "  and  "  instrumental "  are  preferable  to  the  terms 
"  subject "  and  "  method."  See  the  Journal  of  Exper.  Pedagogy, 
i.  2,  p.  116. 

181 


i82    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

definite  place  on  the  time-table.  The  pupils 
aim  at  the  production  of  some  beautiful  or  use- 
ful object — something  which  they  regard  as  in 
itself  worth  doing.  If  the  other  subjects  of 
instruction  are  connected  with  it  they  should  be 
regarded  as  incidental  rather  than  essential. 
The  constructive  exercise  may  suggest  ideas 
other  than  those  necessary  in  the  adaptation  of 
the  material  means  to  the  material  end,  or  it 
may  afford  an  opportunity  for  the  application  of 
ideas  acquired  in  other  provinces  ;  but  the  con- 
struction itself  is  the  central  point  of  interest  in 
the  process.  On  this  view/  the  acquisition  of 
skill  is  important,  and  it  is  desirable  that  there 
should  be  some  sort  of  progressive  develop- 
ment of  the  subject. 

Now  it  is  obvious  that  these  views  are  not 
necessarily  incompatible.  It  is  possible  to  teach 
both  the  instrumental  and  the  substantive  forms 
of  handwork  in  the  same  school.  That  is,  in 
fact,  the  usual  mode  of  procedure.  Each  form 
has  its  merits  and  its  dangers.  In  the  former 
case  the  teacher,  in  his  anxiety  to  "  correlate," 
is  liable  to  give  unsuitable  exercises  ;  and  it 
must  be  recognized  that  constructive  handwork 
is  not  always  the  best  form  of  motor  expres- 
sion. Literature,  for  instance,  finds  its  natural 
expression  in  reading  aloud,  recitation,  and 
dramatic  representation. 

In  the  case  of  handwork  as  substantive  there 
is  the  serious  possibility  of  divorcing  the  motor 
from  the  mental.  The  constructive  exercises 
are  in  danger  of  becoming  extremely  mechanical. 
One  occasionally  finds  3,  school  where  the  ordi- 


7S  HANDWORK  A    SUBJECT  OR  A   METHOD?     183 

nary  subjects  of  instruction  are  abstract  and 
academic,  and  some  independent  handwork 
lessons  of  a  mechanical  nature  are  given  to 
supply  the  need  of  what  is  called  "  motor  train- 
ing." This  is  the  very  worst  type  of  motor 
education.  The  intellectual  factor  is  not 
motorized,  and  the  motor  factor  is  not  intel- 
lectualized.  But  the  essence  of  the  newer  edu- 
cational creed  is  that  impression  and  expression 
should  go  together — that  the  mental  and  the 
motor  aspects  of  knowledge  should  be  in- 
separably linked. 

The  extreme  form  of  substantive  handwork 
is  far  more  revolutionary  than  the  extreme  form 
of  instrumental  handwork  ;  for  while  the  latter 
does  not  necessarily  alter  the  content  of  the  tra- 
ditional time-table,  the  former  in  constituting 
the  centre  from  which  intellectual  pursuits 
radiate  must  profoundly  affect  the  nature  and 
sequence  of  school  studies.  This  becomes  mani- 
fest when  we  examine  the  course  of  studies  pur- 
sued by  the  pupils  at  such  a  school  as  Dr. 
Dewey's  experimental  school  at  Chicago. 

The  line  upon  which  handwork  has  been  de- 
veloping in  England  has  already  been  indicated, 
and  this  line,  provided  the  teaching  methods 
are  sound,  is  probably  as  good  as  any  other. 
The  changes  that  are  being  made  are  gradual 
and  tentative.  Both  types  of  handwork  are 
being  tried  ;  and,  so  far  as  I  can  judge  from  m!any 
years'  intimate  acquaintance  with  a  large  number 
of  schools,  both  types  when  well  taught  are  pro- 
ductive of  sound  results  ;  nor  is  either  exempt 
from  the  evils  due  to  bad  methods  of  teaching. 


SHOULD  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SUB- 
JECT-MATTER FOLLOW  THE  LOGICAL 
OR  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ORDER? 

LEAVING  out  of  consideration  the  preliminary 
stage  when  a  subject  is  introduced  into  the 
school  for  social  and  utilitarian  reasons  and  is 
taught  in  empirical  and  haphazard  fashion,  each 
subject  of  instruction  tends  to  pass  from  the 
logical  to  the  psychological  stage.  The  phrase- 
ology of  this  distinction  is  open  to  objection, 
but  I  retain  it  for  the  present.  In  the  logical 
stage  the  subject-matter  is  presented,  not  in  the 
order  of  discovery — not  in  the  order  in  which 
the  subject  actually  evolved  in  the  history  of 
the  race,  or  would  naturally  develop  in  the  ex- 
perience of  the  young  pupil— but  in  the  order 
in  which  the  adult  intelligence  after  mastering 
the  subject-matter  rearranges  it  on  what  seems 
to  be  the  most  logical  and  systematic  basis. 
It  does  not  represent  the  order  in  which  the  adult 
has  himself  assimilated  the  facts  ;  still  less  does 
it  represent  the  order  in  which  the  child  is  best 
capable  of  assimilating  the  facts.  The  English 
boy  learns  Latin  in  the  logical  order  ;  the 
Roman  boy  learnt  it  in  the  psychological  order. 
The  logical  system  first  presents  elements  which 


SUBJECT-MATTER  LOGICAL  OR  PSYCHOLOGICAL*  185 

have  been  arrived  at  by  the  analysis  of  a  com- 
plex unity,  defines  those  elements,  combines 
them,  arranges  them  in  classes  or  series,  and 
generally  follows  some  preconceived  principle 
of  systematization.  The  psychological  system 
demands  that  the  concrete  facts  be  presented  to 
the  child  when  he  is  either  actually  curious  about 
these  facts,  or  could  by  various  teaching  devices 
be  made  curious  about  them,  and  the  analysis 
and  synthesis  should  be  made  as  far  as  possible 
by  the  child  himself,  the  motive  for  such  pro- 
cesses springing  from  the  fact  that  they  are 
necessary  steps  in  furthering  his  interest  in  the 
subject. 

This  antithesis  which  it  is  customary  to  set 
up  between  the  logical  and  the  psychological 
is  from  certain  points  of  view  unfortunate.  It 
seems  to  correspond  to  the  opposition  between 
the  artificial  and  the  natural,  the  formal  and  the 
informal,  the  forced  and  the  spontaneous,  ex- 
ternal pressure  and  internal  motivation,  effort 
and  interest,  the  subordination  of  the  child  to 
subject-matter  and  the  subordination  of  subject- 
matter  to  the  child,  the  education  of  the  school 
and  the  education  of  life.  Several  of  these  anti- 
theses are  false  and  are  likely  to  do  just  as  much 
harm  as  good.  Dewey,  in  Chapter  V  of  "  How 
we  Think, "  strongly  protests  against  the  notion 
that  the  logical  and  the  psychological  are  in 
any  way  mutually  exclusive.  He  contends  that 
the  immature  mind  has  a  logic  of  its  own  which 
is  as  valid  in  its  own  sphere  as  that  of  the  adult. 
It  represents  the  vital  and  subtle  movement  of 
his  mind  which  cannot,  without  injury,  be  inter- 


186    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

fered  with  by  the  mechanical  devices  of  a  cast- 
iron  external  scheme.  The  so-called  psycho- 
logical and  logical  merely  mean  the  two  ends 
of  the  same  movement — the  earlier  and  later 
stages  in  one  continuous  process  of  normal 
growth.  This  is  beyond  question  the  right  way 
of  looking  at  it.  Those  who  defend  the  logical 
method  argue  somewhat  as  follows  :  If  the 
subject-matter  is  not  to  be  systematized  for  the 
learner,  why  should  he  come  to  school  at  all? 
Of  what  use  is  the  teacher?  If  the  haphazard 
method  of  picking  up  knowledge — the  method 
of  the  home  and  the  street — is  to  be  followed 
in  the  school,  we  have  to  abandon  the  methods 
and  devices  for  teaching  much  in  a  short  time 
which  have  been  laboriously  accumulated  and 
handed  down  by  many  generations  of  teachers. 
To  follow  the  mere  caprices  of  the  child  is 
not  only  to  forgo  all  hope  of  moral  training, 
but  also,  by  failing  to  evoke  effort,  to  miss  the 
best  means  of  intellectual  discipline.  Such  ob- 
jections are  based  upon  a  misconception  of  what 
the  so-called  psychological  method  means.  It  is 
not  haphazard  :  it  follows  the  course  of  natural 
growth.  It  does  not  do  away  with  the  need 
of  a  teacher  ;  it  makes  a  greater  and  more 
subtle  demand  upon  his  skill  and  resourcefulness. 
He  must  possess  some  psychological  knowledge 
of  each  particular  pupil  in  his  class.  The 
caprices  of  the  child  are  not  to  be  unreservedly 
humoured.  Effort  is  demanded  on  his  part  ;  but 
the  effort  should  be  secured  through  the  right 
motive  :  it  should  be  regarded  by  the  child 
as  a  means  to  the  attainment  of  an  end  which 


SUBJECT-MATTER  LOGICAL  OR  PSYCHOLOGICAL?  187 

is  a  desired  end,  not  merely  to  the  teacher,  but 
to  himself  as  well.  The  discipline  secured  by 
this  means  will  be  of  a  deeper  and  more  perma- 
nent kind  than  that  secured  by  appealing  to  a 
motive  which  is  foreign  to  the  subject  itself 
and  has  no  bearing  on  the  child's  self-develop- 
ment. 

The  two  methods  may  be  illustrated  by  refer- 
ence to  the  stages  through  which  instruction  in 
woodwork  has  passed  in  this  country,  and  to  the 
way  in  which  the  teaching  of  one  branch  of 
handwork  (drawing)  has  virtually  passed  into 
the  psychological  stage,  while  the  teaching  of 
another  branch  (needlework)  remains  almost 
exclusively  in  the  logical  stage* 

The  woodwork  system  has  already  passed 
through  two  stages  and  shows  some  signs  of 
passing  into  a  third.  In  the  early  stage,  the 
process  was  everything,  the  product  nothing.1 
The  pupil  was  put  through  a  series  of  barren 
exercises  in  planing,  marking,  sawing,  chiselling, 
etc.,  with  bits  of  wood  which  were  afterwards 
thrown  away.  Joints  of  various  kinds  were  made 
purely  for  practice.  It  then  passed  into  a  second 
stage  in  which  the  product  was  regarded  as 
of  some  importance,  although  still  subservient 
to  the  process.  The  pupil  was  allowed  to  make 
objects  which  could  be  put  to  some  use  ;  but 
the  use  had  reference  to  the  adult,  not  to  the 
child.  They  were  not  objects  which  a  boy  would 
spontaneously  make.  This  is  the  stage  of  Sloyd, 
and  is,  generally  speaking,  the  stage  in  which 
woodwork  is  found  in  England  at  the  present 
1  See  Raymont's  "  Principles  of  Education,"  pp.  214-15. 


i88    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL   MEDIUM 

time.  But  there  are  not  lacking  signs  that  it 
is  about  to  enter  upon  a  third  phase,  in  which 
the  dominant  interests  of  the  boy  determine  the 
objects  to  be  made,  and  the  process  is  regarded 
as  subservient  to  the  product.  In  the  first  stage 
he  makes  something  which  is  useful  to  nobody, 
in  the  second  stage  he  makes  something  which 
is  useful  to  somebody,  in  the  third  stage  he 
makes  something  which  is  useful  to  himself.  In 
the  first  stage  he  expresses  frothing,  in  the  isecond 
he  expresses  something,  in  the  third  he  expresses 
himself.  And  when  I  say  he  expresses  himself 
I  mean  that  the  exercise  has  a  close  and  vital 
connection  with  the  system  of  purposes  and  ideas 
developing  in  his  mind.  It  helps  him1  to  realize 
more  fully  and  more  clearly  what  was  but  partly 
and  vaguely  apprehended  before.  It  becomes 
a  genuine  aid  to  self-realization. 

The  teaching  of  drawing  in  the  elementary 
school  has  been  revolutionized  during  the  last 
ten  years.  Previous  to  that  time  it  was  taught, 
except  in  the  infant  school,  on  the  most  formal 
principles  ;  and  even  in  the  infant  school  the 
newer  method  is  of  quite  recent  introduction. 
The  starting-point  was  practice  in  the  elements — 
the  straight  lines  and  curves  into  which  all 
drawings,  however  elaborate,  could  be  analysed. 
Straight  lines  in  various  positions  and  curves  of 
various  kinds  in  various  positions  constituted  the 
staple  of  the  earlier  exercises.  These  were  then 
combined  in  a  variety  of  ways,  generally  form- 
ing a  symmetrical  arrangement  about  a  central 
line.  From  simple  arrangements  the  pupil  pro- 
ceeded to  more  complex  arrangements,  and  even 


SUBJECT-MATTER  LOGICAL  OR  PSYCHOLOGICAL  f  189 

during  his  fourteenth  year — his  last  year  at 
school — he  was  still  found  practising  medieval 
ornament  of  the  most  uninteresting  description. 
He  had  done  no  colouring,  no  "  mass  drawing," 
no  light  and  shade,  no  sketching  from  real  ob- 
jects (unless  indeed  he  was  put  through  an 
equally  formal  course  of  model  drawing  in 
which  the  geometrical  models  were  the  only 
objects  sketched),  he  had  in  fact  done  nothing 
which  made  a  vital  appeal  to  his  constructive 
instinct,  and  his  natural  love  of  colour.  This 
method  has  still  its  advocates  both  among  pro- 
fessional artists  and  among  art  teachers  and 
inspectors.  The  President  of  the  Royal  Academy 
got  out  some  years  ago  a  series  of  drawing 
copies  intended  for  use  in  the  schools,  a  series 
which  embodies  all  that  is  dry  and  formal  in 
the  older  system.  It  is  claimed  by  the  sup- 
porters of  this  older  system  that  it  is  the  only 
method  which  gives  a  "  thorough  grounding " 
in  art,  that  the  procedure  must  always  be  from 
simple  to  complex,  that  it  is  useless,  nay 
dangerous,  to  allow  a  child  to  attempt  to  draw 
something  manifestly  beyond  his  powers  (such 
as  a  man  or  a  ship),  and  that  line-drawing, 
being  the  basis  of  all  pictorial  representation, 
should  be  thoroughly  mastered  before  shading 
or  colouring  is  attempted.  The  fallacies  lurking 
in  these  statements  need  not  be  here  refuted. 
Some  of  those  common  to  all  forms  of  handwork 
will  be  dealt  with  in  the  next  section.  Suffice 
it  to  say  here  that  this  method  of  teaching 
drawing  has,  for  the  time  at  least,  been  virtu- 
ally abandoned,  that  children  in  the  schools  now 


IQO    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

draw  in  mass  and  colour  from  the  real  object 
instead  of  from  the  flat,  and  they  do  this  from 
their  first  entry  into  the  elementary  school.  The 
results  have  in  my  opinion  abundantly  justified 
the  change.  The  children  are  much  happier 
in  their  work,  they  take  much  more  interest 
in  the  subject,  and  spontaneously  carry  on  the 
work  in  their  homes  ;  and  the  standard  of  merit 
in  the  drawings  themselves  is  considerably 
higher  than  was  attainable  under  the  older 
system.  It  is  curious  to  note  that  the  method 
which  is  now  adopted  and  is  generally  considered 
to  be  one  of  the  newest  of  doctrines,  is  the  very 
one  which  was  clearly  and  definitely  advocated 
by  Herbert  Spencer  in  I86I.1 

Needlework  is  still  in  many  of  our  schools 
taught  by  the  logical  method.  First  comes  a 
series  of  drills — thimble  drill,  needle  drill,  and 
work -holding  drill.  Until  quite  recently  children 
of  three  were  put  through  these  barren  exer- 
cises ;  now  the  instruction  is  postponed  until 
they  are  six  or  seven.  After  the  drills  they 
begin  to  make  stitches.  They  carefully  imitate 
the  teacher,  and  all  do  the  work  in  precisely 
the  same  way.  And  for  years  they  continue  to 
practise  stitches  on  little  bits  of  calico  or  other 
material  before  they  begin  to  construct  gar- 
ments. The  exercises  constitute  a  sort  of  gram- 
mar which  is  to  be  applied  in  after  years.  A 
change  has  however  begun  to  set  in,  and  a 
vigorous  movement  is  afoot  which  aims  at  the 
introduction  of  constructive  exercises  from  the 
very  beginning,  and  the  subordination  of  drill 

1  See  "Education,"  Chap,  ii  (pp.  80-2,  the  1887  edition). 


SUBJECT-MATTER  LOGICAL  OR  PSYCHOLOGICAL?  191 

to  the  immediate  attainment  of  definite  ends 
which  are  objects  of  desire  to  the  pupils  them- 
selves. 

The  distinction  between  the  psychological  and 
the  logical  order  of  presentment  is  now  clear, 
and  the  superiority  of  the  former  consists  mainly 
in  the  fact  that  it  follows  the  course  which  the 
study  of  child-nature  has  shown  to  be  the  actual 
line  of  growth.  It  lays  great  stress  on  motives, 
purposes,  and  interests.  It  makes  allowance  for 
.  the  fact  that  a  child's  activities  are  mainly  con- 
cerned with  present  achievement.  Remote  ends 
and  consequences  make  an  ineffectual  appeal 
to  him.  That  the  right  sort  of  interest  should 
be  evoked  and  maintained  is  regarded  as  of 
greater  importance  than  that  a  certain  standard 
of  achievement  should  be  at  any  given  time 
attained. 

The  theory  that  learning  naturally  starts  with 
the  elements  into  which  a  complex  whole  may 
ultimately  be  analysed,  and  that  these  elements 
are  generally  built  up  by  the  mind  into  systems 
of  increasing  complexity,  is  based  upon  a  mis- 
conception of  the  nature  of  the  learning  process 
even  in  the  mind  of  the  adult.  If  I  wish  to 
master  a  map  of  London  I  do  not  first  of  all 
consider  the  individual  streets  and,  starting  at 
one  corner,  memorize  their  names,  forms,  and 
arrangements.  My  eye  does  not  creep  over 
the  map  inch  by  inch.  I  start  by  trying  to 
get  a  general  impression  of  London  as  a  whole. 
I  note  that  the  river  divides  it  into  two  sections. 
I  try  to  pick  out  the  main  thoroughfares  and 
note  their  general  trend.  I  fix  the  positions  of 


IQ2    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

the  buildings  I  happen  to  have  heard  of,  and 
of  any  streets  I  happen  to  know.  And  none  of 
these  is  considered  in  isolation.  Oxford  Street 
appears  in  my  mind,  not  as  a  mere  street,  but 
as  a  street  parallel  to  the  Strand  running  east 
and  west  in  the  part  of  London  north  of  the 
river.  In  fact  the  thought  of  the  whole  of 
London  is  Always  present  in  the  background 
of  my  mind  when  I  am  thinking  of  any  particu- 
lar part  of  London.  Ward's  theory  of  the  pre- 
sentation continuum  and  its  gradual  development 
applies  to  all  learning  processes.  "  We  shall 
find  in  the  growth  of  a  seed  or  an  embryo  far 
better  illustrations  of  the  unfolding  of  the  con- 
tents of  consciousness  than  in  the  building  up 
of  molecules  :  the  process  seems  much  more 
a  segmentation  of  what  is  originally  continuous 
than  an  aggregation  of  elements  at  first  inde- 
pendent and  distinct. "  1  He  applies  this  concept 
a  little  further  on  to  the  mode  in  which  one 
studies  a  flower.  The  general  outline  is  noted 
first,  next  the  disposition  of  petals,  stamens,  etc. 
To  put  it  generally  the  notion  of  a  whole, 
however  vague  and  schematic  it  may  be,  always 
precedes  a  detailed  knowledge  of  its  parts.  It 
frequently  happens  indeed  that  the  parts  have 
no  interest  at  all  except  in  their  relation  to  the 
whole.  This  is  particularly  true  of  objects  made 
by  children.  The  details  of  the  process  have 
for  them  no  value  except  as  means  to  the  con- 
struction of  the  complete  object.  It  is  the  idea 
of  the  complete  object  that  should  guide  their 
activities  all  through. 
1  Article  on  "  Psychology  "  in  the  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica." 


THE  PLACE   OF   DRILLS    IN   MANUAL 
EDUCATION 

THE  question  of  the  nature,  the  amount,  and 
the  sequence  of  exercises  for  securing  auto- 
matism is  one  which  calls  for  inquiry.  Broadly 
speaking  there  are  two  factions,  holding  strongly 
opposed  views.  First  there  is  the  faction  whose 
favourite  words  are  discipline,  training,  effort, 
work,  habits,  thoroughness,  and  reliability  ;  and 
secondly  the  faction  who  prefer  such  words  as 
interest,  growth,  play,  spontaneity,  initiative, 
and  self-resource.  The  opposing  doctrines  cor- 
respond broadly  to  the  distinction  that  is  some- 
times drawn  between  the  hard  and  the  soft 
pedagogy. 

The  former  school  of  educationists  hold  that 
drills  should  be  frequent  and  thorough — thorough 
in  the  sense  that  they  should  be  continued  until 
complete  automatism  has  been  attained.  They 
maintain  that  habit  is  the  important  thing  in 
education,  that  in  fact  virtually  the  whole  pf 
education  could  be  expressed  in  terms  of  habit  ; 
that  progress  in  manual  work  consists  in  first 
mechanizing  certain  simple  elementary  processes 
and  gradually  proceeding  towards  more  com- 
plex processes,  which  should  in  their  turn  be 

13  193 


194    HANDWORK  AS   AN  EDUCATIONAL   MEDIUM 

mechanized  ;  that  preliminary  exercises  of  a 
disciplinary  nature  are  essential,  and  that  fre- 
quent disciplinary  exercises  should  be  given  all 
along  the  course  ;  that  without  these  frequent 
drills  the  work  becomes  slipshod  and  the 
children  get  discouraged  ;  that  without  the  care- 
ful drilling  at  the  beginning  the  children  fall 
into  bad  habits  which  are  extremely  difficult  to 
eradicate  later  on  ;  that  although  the  exercises 
are  often  distasteful  they  serve  nevertheless  as 
a  valuable  means  of  frroral  training,  and  although 
meaningless  to  the  child  at  the  time,  their  mean- 
ing and  value  will  become  evident  to  him  later 
on  ;  that  what  is  known  as  "  good  form  "  in 
any  of  the  arts  or  crafts  is  impossible  without 
careful  vigilance  on  the  part  of  the  teacher 
in  order  that  a  correct  mode  of  manipulation 
may  be  practised  from  the  very  first  ;  that 
without  this  thorough  training  no  rapid  progress 
will  be  made  and  no  high  standard  of  attainment 
ultimately  reached.  The  opposing  school,  on 
the  other  hand,  assert  that  skill  should  be 
acquired  not  so  much  by  exercises  devised 
ad  hoc,  as  by  the  construction  of  some 
useful  or  beautiful  object  which  the  learner 
really  desires  to  make,  and  that  if  he  finds 
that  his  skill  is  inadequate  for  his  purpose  he 
may  then  profitably  analyse  the  work,  strengthen 
by  special  exercises  the  weak  element,  and  finally 
apply  himself  again  to  the  original  complex 
task.  The  drill  is  thus  lifted  from  the  level 
of  meaningless  drudgery  to  the  level  of  conscious 
adaptation  of  means  to  ends. 


PLACE  OF  DRILLS  IN  MANUAL  EDUCATION      195 

Let  us  submit  the  views  of  the  disciplinary 
school  to  detailed  examination.  It  is  true  that 
habits  cover  a  very  large  field  in  education, 
but  the  more  important  habits  to  be  cultivated 
at  school  are  not  physical  but  mental  ;  and 
even  in  the  mental  realm1  the  part  not  covered 
by  habit,  although  perhaps  small,  is  probably 
of  greater  import  than  all  the  rest  put  together. 
For  habits  enable  us  to  deal  with  familiar  situa- 
tions only.  Born  as  they  are  of  repetition — of 
repeated  adaptations  to  the  same  or  similar  situ- 
ations— they  are  obviously  inadequate  to  deal 
with  novel  situations.  Whether  the  novelty  is 
due  to  new  elements  which  challenge  adjust- 
ment, or  to  a  new  combination  of  familiar 
elements,  habits  necessarily  fail  to  mfeet  the  case. 
Or  if  an  old  habit  does  meet  the  case  it  is 
clear  that  it  still  requires  something  which  is 
not  habit  to  discover  the  fact,  and  to  select  the 
appropriate  habit.  In  fact  we  can  never  bring 
the  whole  of  the  mind's  functions  under  the 
caption  of  habit.  What  then  is  that  mental 
faculty  or  power  which  enables  a  person  to 
adjust  himself  to  conditions  which  are  new  to 
him?  It  has  been  variously  named  Accommo- 
dation (Baldwin),  Intelligence  (Binet,  Spearman, 
Burt),  Judgment  (Bagley),  Idea  (Rowe),  Noetic 
Synthesis  (Stout),  Reflective  Thought  (Dewey), 
Scientific  Thinking  (Armstrong),  Apperception 
(Herbart),  and  Understanding  (the  older  Eng- 
lish Psychologists).  It  seems  to  coincide 
roughly  with  what  the  vulgar  mean  by  "  nous  " 
or  "gumption/'  and  the  ancients  meant  by 


196     HANDWORK  AS  AN   EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

"  wisdom."  But  whatever  name  we  give  it  we 
cannot  but  recognize  it  as  being  in  its  highest 
form  the  essential  characteristic  of  man  as 
distinct  from  the  brutes.  The  latter,  it  is  true, 
have  a  certain  power  of  adaptation  to  which 
we  give  the  name  Intelligence,  but  it  is  very 
limited  in  range,  and  can  in  no  way  compare 
with  the  potency  of  reason  or  reflective  thinking 
in  man. 

It  is  not  here  claimed  that  it  is  possible 
through  handwork  to  cultivate  a  general  faculty 
of  reason  or  intelligence  ;  but  it  is  claimed  that 
handwork  can  be  so  utilized  as  to  cultivate  cer- 
tain mental  habits  which  will  give  what  natural 
intelligence  one  possesses  an  opportunity  of 
showing  itself.  It  is  also  claimed  that  it  can 
be  so  taught  as  to  foster  certain  attitudes  of 
mind — including  a  certain  belief  in  the  mind's 
own  power  to  deal  with  the  case  effectively — 
which  favour  reflective  thinking. 

And  as  physical  habits  can  be  so  acquired 
as  to  foster  the  formation  of  good  mental  habits, 
so  can  they  be  so  acquired  as  to  foster  the  for- 
mation of  bad  mental  habits.  To  acquire  a 
physical  habit  in  such  a  way  as  to  neglect 
intelligence  altogether  is  not  merely  to  miss  an 
opportunity  :  it  is  to  produce  a  positive  evil  in 
the  way  of  encouraging  lazy  and  slipshod  habits 
of  thought.  For  if  the  waking  mind  will  not 
think,  it  will  daydream.  And  although  day- 
dreaming is  not  in  itself  an  evil,  it  is  an  evil 
when  the  mind  should  be  thinking. 

The   conclusion    at    which   we   arrive    is    that 


PLACE  OF  DRILLS  IN  MANUAL  EDUCATION      197 

the  full  intellectual  and  moral  benefit  to  be 
derived  from  the  formation  of  a  physical  habit 
is  only  attained  when  the  whole  mind  co-operates 
in  the  formation  of  that  habit.  And  this  will 
not  happen  under  any  of  the  three  following  cir- 
cumstances :  when  the  sequence  of  movements 
is  due  to  unthinking  imitation  ;  when  it  is 
carried  out  in  obedience  to  a  series  of  orders 
given  by  the  teacher  ;  and  when  the  child  fails 
to  see  or  feel  its  relevance  to  some  of  his  own 
real  purposes. 

The  maxim  "  First  acquire  skill  and  then 
apply  it  "  seems  at  first  sight  to  be  not  only 
innocent  but  eminently  reasonable.  It  is  in 
fact  the  maxim  on  which  much  of  the  educa- 
tional work  of  the  past  has  been  based.  Experi- 
ence, however,  tends  to  show  that  unless  the 
skill  has  been  intelligently  acquired,  it  is  not 
likely  to  be  intelligently  applied.  If  it  is  learnt 
parrot-fashion  it  will  be  applied  parrot-fashion. 

The  following  objections  may  be  urged  against 
preliminary  exercises  of  a  disciplinary  nature 
such  as  needle  drill,  knitting  drill,  pot-hooks  and 
hangers  in  writing,  straight  lines  and  curves  in 
drawing,  ruling  and  cutting  and  folding  in  card- 
board modelling,  blobbing  in  brushwork,  and 
so  forth. 

i .  A  physical  habit  is  best  learnt  in  its  natural 
context.  A  simple  habit  when  required 
to  form  part  of  a  complex  habit  is,  as 
a  rule,  better  gained  as  a  part  of  the 
complex  habit  than  as  an  isolated  item. 


198    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL   MEDIUM 

2.  A  physical   habit   should   be  used   by   the 

learner  as  a  means  to  an  end.  It  should 
fall  into  its  natural  place  as  an  expe- 
dient for  attaining  a  rational  purpose. 
If  this  condition  is  not  satisfied  the  exer- 
cises tend  to  deaden  interest  and  to 
retard  progress. 

3.  A  physical  habit  should  possess   meaning 

for  the  learner.  It  should  have  a  reflex 
influence  on  mind  and  character.  It 
should  aid  in  the  development  of  ideas 
and  of  mental  and  moral  habits.  It 
should  forrri  a  nucleus  froto  which 
mental  activities  radiate. 

Preliminary   exercises    fail   in   these   respects. 

It  has  been  recognized  in  other  departments 
of  learning  that  to  teach  little  isolated  bits  in 
the  hope  that  these  bits  will  be  properly  com- 
bined by  the  pupil  later  on  is  bad  methodology. 
The  baby  does  not  first  learn  separate  sounds  : 
he  learns  words,  phrases,  and  sentences.  The 
schoolboy  does  not  first  learn  the  Latin  dic- 
tionary and  then  begin  to  translate  :  he  learns 
each  word  as  he  comes  across  it  in  the  text. 
Even  when  it  is  not  a  question  of  elements 
which  enter  into  varying  combinations  with  other 
elements  (such  as  words  to  be  used  in  speech 
or  writing),  but  when  it  is  a  question  of  elements 
which  have  to  be  learnt  in  fixed  sequence — which 
have  to  cohere  as  a  habit — the  habit  can  as  a 
rule  be  more  economically  gained  as  a  whole 
than  in  parts.  It  has  been  abundantly  demon- 


PLACE  OF  DRILLS  IN  MANUAL  EDUCATION      199 

strated  that  a  piece  of  poetry  or  prose  can  foe 
committed  to  memory  more  easily  and  more 
rapidly  by  learning  it  as  a  whole  than  by  learn- 
ing it  a  line,  or  a  phrase,  at  a  time.  This  is 
true  even  when  the  whole  amounts  to  as  many 
as  240  lines.1 

Much  light  has  been  thrown  upon  the  acqui- 
sition of  skill  requiring!  the  active  co-operation 
of  the  mind  by  the  researches  of  Messrs.  ;W;.  L. 
Bryan,  E.  J.  Swift,  and  W.  F.  Book  in  the  psy- 
chology of  learning  the  telegraphic  language, 
shorthand,  and  typewriting. 

Swift  has  shown  that  in  learning  typewriting 
simple  and  complex  factors  and  habits  have 
no  separate  periods  :  both  are  present  all 
through.  The  learner  gradually  passes  from 
a  period  when  lower-order  habits  predominate 
to  a  period  when  higher-order  habits  predomi- 
nate. By  lower-order  habits  he  means  reaction 
to  letters  rather  than  words.  The  learner  gradu- 
ally gets  to  react  to  words  or  even  phrases. 
The  whole  word  serves  as  a  simple  cue  which 
brings  into  action  the  whole  of  the  comlplex 
series  of  movements  necessary  to  type  the  word. 
Except  that  it  is  successive  instead  of  simul- 
taneous, it  corresponds  to  the  way  in  which  an 
expert  pianist  responds  to  a  group  of  notes 
forming  a  chord  rather  than  to  each  single 
note.  This  process  of  learning  higher-order 
habits  is  largely  subconscious.  The  learner  finds 

1  See  "The  Most  Economical  Unit  for  Committing  to 
Memory,"  by  W.  H.  Pyle  and  C.  J.  Snyder,  Journal  of 
Educational  Psychology  for  March  1911. 


200    HANDWORK  AS  AX  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

himself  doing  something  that  he  had  not  before 
been  aware  of.  The  new  acquisition  is  well 
advanced  before  it  is  discovered.1 

This  tends  to  discredit  the  theory  that  ele- 
ments should  first  be  thoroughly  mastered  before 
the  combinations  are  attacked,  and  that  these 
elements  should  be  consciously  combined  to  form 
new  wholes. 

These  conclusions  are  fully  confirmed  by 
W.  F.  Book.  I  quote  from  an  article  of  his 
on  the  "  Role  of  the  Teacher  in  Economic  Learn- 
ing "  :  "  None  of  the  elementary  habits  reach 
complete  maturity  before  the  next  higher-order 
habits  become  possible.  On  the  contrary  the 
various  associations  to  be  formed  naturally  de- 
velop together,  and  before  any  of  the  special 
habits  have  become  fully  perfected  the  next 
higher -order  habits  are  already  well  along  in 
the  process  of  their  development,  and  operative 
in  the  work.  Bryan  and  Master  found,  for 
example,  that  practice  in  receiving  telegraphic 
messages  in  sentence  form  increased  their 
learner's  ability  to  take  isolated  letters  and 
words.  They  also  found  that  more  mistakes 
were  made  in  receiving  disconnected  letters  than 
in  receiving,  at  a  much  more  rapid  rate?  letters 
forming  words  ;  more  mistakes  made  in  receiv- 
ing disconnected  words  than  in  receiving,  at 
a  still  higher  rate,  connected  discourse,  showing 
that  the  development  and  mastery  of  higher- 
order  habits  leads  to  greater  accuracy  in  detail 

1  See  "The  Acquisition  of  Skill  in  Typewriting,"  by  E.  J. 
Swift,  Psychological  Bulletin,  August  1904,  pp.  295-305. 


PLACE  OF  DRILLS  IN  MANUAL  EDUCATION     201 

by  helping  perfect  the  elemental  habits  in- 
volved.'' l 

"  The  natural  and  most  economic  method  of 
learning  demands  that  we  practise  with  the 
highest -order  habits  possible,  thus  learning  all 
the  units  in  their  proper  setting."  2 

"  Elemental  habits  can  best  be  perfected  in 
and  through  the  development  of  the  higher- 
order  habits."  3 

The  second  objection  to  introductory  drill  in 
the  element  of  a  complex  occupation  is  based 
upon  the  uninteresting  nature  of  the  exercises. 
A  child  takes  delight  in  physical  activities  of  any 
sort  provided  they  are  sufficiently  varied.  But 
the  repetition  of  the  same  act  over  and  over 
again  robs  it  of  all  interest  it  may  possess  a,s  a 
mere  output  of  physical  energy.  A  child  takes 
delight  in  constructing  things,  provided  he  re- 
gards them  as  either  beautiful  or  useful.  But 
pot-hooks  and  hangers,  straight  and  curved  lines, 
"  blobs,"  needlework  "  specimens,"  and  wood- 
work joints  that  join  nothing,  are  neither  the 
one  nor  the  other. 

The  first  essential  in  any  educational  occupa- 
tion is  that  it  should  be  properly  motivated. 
The  child  should  engage  in  it  because  he  wants 
to  do  it.  Whatever  the  purpose  he  has  in  view, 
it  should  be  essentially  his  own  purpose.  What- 
ever a  child  does  in  school  or  elsewhere,  he  must 
of  course  be  actuated  by  some  motive  ;  generally 
indeed  by  a  mixture  of  motives,  some  of  them 

1  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  April  1910,  p.  191. 

2  Idem,  p.  192.  s  Idem,  p.  193. 


202    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

acting  as  a  blind  "  vis  a  tergo,"  others  taking 
the  form  of  a  consciously  conceived  end.  The 
impulses  that  push  and  the  ideals  that  attract, 
are  often  both  operative.  It  is  probable  that 
the  impulsion  of  instinct  or  habit  lies  behind 
nearly  all  our  activities  ;  but  if  the  activities  are 
to  be  in  the  highest  sense  educative  they  must  be 
motivated  and  guided  by  something  ahead — by  a 
desired  end.  The  pupil  should,  in  fact,  have  in 
his  mind  some  definite  purpose.  Without  this 
purpose  his  interest  in  the  work  will  dwindle,  and 
but  little  benefit  of  any  sort  will  accrue  from  the 
exercise.  Of  these  conscious  purposes  some  are 
better  than  others.  The  more  intimately  [the  pur- 
pose is  connected  with  the  particular  activity,  or 
the  product  of  that  activity,  the  greater  is  the  in- 
tellectual value  of  that  activity.  This  may  not, 
however,  hold  good  for  moral  values.  Suppose, 
for  instance,  that  two  boys,  A  and  B,  are  both 
making  picture -frames  in  the  woodwork  room. 
A  loves  making  picture-frames — both  the  activity 
and  the  product.  B,  on  the  other  hand,  wishes  to 
make  a  present  to  his  mother.  He  is  not  keen  on 
the  occupation  as  such,  but  simply  wishes  to  give 
his  mother  pleasure.  A's  interest,  which  is  in- 
trinsically connected  with  the  occupation,  is  more 
likely  to  result  in  the  application  of  ingenuity 
to  the  overcoming  of  obstacles  than  B's  interest, 
which  is  only  indirectly  connected  with  the  occu- 
pation. A's  mind,  in  fact,  would  probably  be 
more  fully  "  occupied  "  in  the  work,  and  the 
intellectual  implications  be  more  numerous. 
Moreover,  A's  interest  is  a  'guarantee  of  the  same 


PLACE  OF  DRILLS  IN  MANUAL  EDUCATION      203 

kind  of  occupation  being  continued  :  B's  interest 
offers  no  such  guarantee. 

We  have  supposed  that  B's  motive  is  a  good 
one  from  a  moral  point  of  view.  But  extrinsic 
motives  need  not  necessarily  be  good.  In  the 
school  the  motive  too  often  is  the  fear  of  punish- 
ment, or  of  arousing  the  anger  of  the  teacher. 
Such  interest  as  is  taken  in  the  work  under  those 
circumstances  is  of  a  very  superficial  nature. 
It  is  just  as  likely  to  result  in  an  ultimate  distaste 
for  the  occupation  as  in  an  ultimate  liking  for  it. 

iWhen  it  is  asserted  that  a  ipupil  should  like  the 
task  in  which  he  is  engaged,  it  is  not  meant  to 
imply  that  he  should  do  what  he  likes.  There 
is  a  great  difference  between  doing  what  one 
likes  and  liking  what  one  does.  It  is  not  oftea 
that  a  man  knows  what  he  will  like  before  he  has 
experienced  it  ;  it  is  less  often  still  that  a  boy 
knows.  An  astute  and  experienced  teacher  will, 
in  point  of  fact,  often  know  what  a  boy  will 
actually  like  to  do  better  than  the  boy  himself. 

This  discussion  of  motives  leads  to  the  con- 
clusion that  exercises  in  which  the  pupil  is  likely 
to  take  no  intrinsic  interest  should  be  avoided. 
It  may  be  that  the  exercise  in  itself  is  dull — or 
rather  would  be  dull  if  regarded  as  an  isolated 
exercise — but  if  it  inevitably  leads  to  conse- 
quences which  the  pupil  desires,  and  if  he  sees 
clearly  that  it  will  lead  to  those  consequences, 
then  it  satisfies  the  condition  of  intrinsic  interest. 
The  exercise,  in  fact,  is  relieved  of  its  dulness  ; 
or  even  if  not,  the  drudgery  is  cheerfully  faced. 
For  though  the  path  be  wearisome  it  is  seen 


204    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

to  be  the  only  thoroughfare  to  a  pleasant  land 
beyond.  It  is  a  case  of  interest  of  the  right 
kind  giving  rise  to  effort  of  the  right  kind. 

It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  the  degree  to 
which  pupils  can  be  influenced  by  remote  motives 
depends  largely  upon  their  stage  of  growth. 
Young  pupils  demand  quick  returns  for  their 
labours  :  the  task  should  come  to  immediate 
fruition.  To  a  child  of  six  an  event  which  will 
occur  a  week  ahead  seems  a  very  long  way  off. 
Its  power  of  motivation  is  insufficient  to  carry 
him  over  a  week's  drudgery.  But  the  manual 
occupations  which  we  are  considering  are  nearly 
all  commenced  when  the  child  is  about  the  age 
of  six.  Whatever,  therefore,  may  be  said  for 
older  pupils,  for  young  pupils  exercises  uncon- 
nected with  a  purpose  that  is  almost  immediately 
achieved  are  quite  out  of  place. 

The  third  objection  to  preliminary  drill  is 
based  upon  its  intellectual  barrenness.  This 
follows  as  a  direct  inference  from  the  second 
objection  ;  for  the  attention  paid  to  a  pursuit— 
the  amount  of  mental  activity  involved — varies 
directly  with  the  interest  taken  in  that  pursuit. 
To  say  that  we  are  interested  in  anything  and  to 
say  that  we  devote  thought  to  it  are  two  different 
ways  of  expressing  the  same  concrete  fact.  It  is 
almost  certain  that  even  a  little  girl  of  six 
attaches  some  significance  to  the  practising  of 
stitches  on  a  small  rectangular  bit  of  calico  ; 
but  it  is  equally  certain  that  she  does  not 
attach  full  significance.  She  does  not  regard  it 
as  a  sine  qua  non  to  the  construction  of  a  good 


PLACE  OF  DRILLS   IN  MANUAL  EDUCATION     205 

garment.  And  even  if  she  does,  the  construction 
of  such  a  garment  is  an  event  of  such  remote 
futurity  that  its  thought-compelling  power  is 
reduced  to  a  minimum.  She  thinks  as  little 
as  possible  about  the  task  immediately  in  hand  ; 
she  is  unlikely  to  think  about  the  end  towards 
attaining  which  the  task  is  a  means  ;  she  is 
equally  unlikely  to  think  about  other  ends  (moral 
or  intellectual)  indirectly  connected  with  the 
task  ;  the  exercise  is,  in  fact,  almost  purely 
mechanical. 

Preliminary  drill,  in  spite  of  the  damaging 
admission  that  it  tends  to  deaden  interest,  is 
defended  by  educationists  of  widely  different 
types  on  the  ground  that  it  is  vitally  necessary 
that  the  learner  should  start  the  course  with  an 
equipment  of  good  habits.  This  is  specially 
insisted  on  in  those  cases  where  there  is  a  con- 
sensus of  opinion  that  there  is  one  right  way  of 
doing  a  thing — a  way  which  is  better  than  any 
other  way,  and  which  must  be  followed  if  the 
highest  results  are  to  be  secured.  There  is, 
for  instance,  supposed  to  be  a  right  way  of 
holding  a  pen,  a  fiddle,  and  a  pair  of  scissors  ; 
a  right  way  of  plying  a  needle,  a  right  way  of 
driving  a  plane,  and  a  right  way  of  playing 
a  piano.  It  is  further  thought  that  unless  the 
pupil  is  correctly  instructed  at  the  very  beginning 
he  will  inevitably  form  bad  habits  of  mani- 
pulation which  will  be  difficult  if  not  impossible 
to  eradicate  later  on.  He  should  never,  it  is 
contended,  be  allowed  to  experiment  with  any 
other  way  ;  he  should  never  be  allowed  to  adopt 


206    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

what  seems  to  him  to  be  a  more  natural  mode  of 
manipulation  ;  he  should  never  make  a  single 
departure  from  the  right  road. 

Bain's  warning  against  exceptions,  especially 
in  the  form  of  James's  maxim,1  is  constantly 
quoted  in  support  of  this  view.  Dr.  S.  H.  Rowe 
affords  a  typical  example.  He  devotes  the  whole 
of  Chapter  X  of  his  book  on  Habit -format ion 
to  the  exposition  of  methods  of  preventing 
exceptions  in  the  formation  of  habits.  It  is 
perfectly  clear,  however,  from  the  way  in  which 
Bain  and  James  applied  the  maxim  that  they 
had  in  mind  a  special  kind  of  habit-formation. 
Bain  applies  it  to  early-rising,  and  James  to  the 
abandoning  of  such  habits  as  drink  and  opium- 
indulgence.  Here  we  have  not  simple  cases 
of  creating  new  habits,  nor  yet  simple  cases  of 
breaking  up  old  habits  and  forming  new  ones  ; 
but  cases  where  new  habits  have  to  be  formed  in 
the  teeth  of  an  organic  stimulus  [which  per- 
sistently impels  towards  indulgence  in  the  old 
habits.  Early  rising  is  attained  in  direct  antag- 
onism to  the  seductive  allurement  of  the  warm 
bedclothes.  If  the  drunkard  has  to  form 
temperate  habits  he  has  to  drink  water  when 
every  fibre  of  his  being  seems  to  urge  him  to 
drink  whisky.  Rules  which  apply  to  such  excep- 
tional cases  do  not  necessarily  apply  to  normal 
cases.  It  may  reasonably  be  contended  that  after 
a  child  has  arrived  at  school  age  the  formation 

1  "  Never  suffer  an  exception  to  occur  until  the  new  habit 
is  securely  rooted  in  your  life "  ("  Principles  of  Psychology," 
vol.  i.  p.  123). 


PLACE   OF   DRILLS   IN  MANUAL  EDUCATION      207 

of  new  physical  habits  necessarily  involves  the 
breaking  of  some  habits  either  wholly  or 
partially  formed.  The  whole  field  of  motor 
activities  is  so  cobwebbed  with  lines  of  prefer- 
ential discharge  that  new  lines  must  inevitably 
cut  athwart  old  lines.  But  it  cannot  be  main- 
tained that  there  is  a  persistent  and  imperative 
impulsion  to  run  along  the  old  lines.  The  "  no 
exception  "  theory,  if  universally  applied,  would 
do  away  with  experimentation.  The  "  trial  and 
error  "  method,  even  though  it  were  supplemented 
by  reason,  would  have  to  be  regarded  as  wholly 
pernicious.  But  we  know,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
that  experimentation— testing,  rejecting,  selecting 
— goes  on  all  through  life,  and  that  this  consti- 
tutes one  of  the  most  valuable  factors  in  human 
experience. 

The  root  of  the  objection  to  allowing  children 
to  experiment  a  little  for  themselves  as  a  pre- 
liminary means  of  bringing  them  face  to  face 
with  the  main  difficulties  to  be  encountered  is 
to  be  found  in  the  belief  that  a  wrong  line  of 
activity  is  very  difficult  to  erase.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  nervous  system  of  a  young  child  is  so 
plastic  that  new  lines  of  activity  are  readily 
established— lines  deep  enough  to  drain  off  the 
excitations  from  the  older  channels.  A  young 
child,  in  fact,  readily  sheds  his  bad  habits — 
unless,  that  is,  they  have  been  drilled  into  him. 
Too  much  stress  is  probably  laid  on  habituation, 
and  too  little  on  the  opposite  /tendency,  which 
Baldwin  has  called  accommodation.  A  child  has 
not  merely  a  natural  tendency  to  repeat  a  mode 


2o8     HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

of  activity  that  has  once  taken  place,  but  he 
also  has  an  equally  natural,  although  not  equally 
strong,  tendency  to  vary  that  activity.  And  the 
more  successful  an  activity,  the  greater  is  the 
tendency  to  persist  in  the  activity  and  the  less 
the  tendency  to  vary  it  ;  while  the  less  successful 
the  activity,  the  greater  is  the  tendency  to  vary 
and  the  less  the  tendency  to  persist.  There  is,  in 
fact,  a  natural  provision  by  which  blunders  are 
remedied,  and  it  may  be  that  the  educator  is  too 
distrustful  of  that  natural  provision.  The  chief 
danger  really  lies  in  the  possibility  of  the  child 
remaining  content  with  a  partially  successful 
result,  or  not  realizing  that  the  result  is  defective. 
"  The  good,"  as  the  old  Welsh  proverb  has 
it,  "  is  the  enemy  of  the  better."  This  is  where 
the  teacher  comes  in.  It  is  his  duty  to  bring  the 
child  to  the  recognition  of  his  non-success  ;  not 
by  telling  him,  but  by  certain  questions  and  sug- 
gestions which  will  enable  him  to  discover  for 
,himself  that  he  has  not  realized  his  purpose.  It 
may  be  that  the  child's  achievement  is  low,  but 
he  has  actually  achieved  what  he  set  out  to 
achieve.  It  is  then  a  matter  for  the  teacher  to 
decide  whether  the  result  is  for  the  time  being 
adequate  (as  in  the  case  of  expression-drawings 
in  the  infant  school),  or  whether  the  pupil's 
purpose  or  ideal  should  be  modified. 

When  a  new  art  is  begun  by  older  pupils  the 
objections  to  introductory  exercises  are  less 
cogent,  for  the  pupils'  minds  are  capable  of 
reaching  farther  into  the  future  and  of  acting 
upon  the  incentive  of  a  more  ideal  purpose. 


PLACE  OF  DRILLS  IN  MANUAL  EDUCATION      209 

If  exercises  designed  to  produce  facility  in  the 
performance  of  a  skilful  act  are  out  of  place  at 
the  beginning  of  the  course  of  instruction,  where 
is  the  legitimate  place  for  these  exercises?  It  is 
clear  that  they  are  occasionally  necessary.  Pro- 
gress in  skilful  adaptation  depends  upon  the  fact 
that  co-ordinations  as  they  gain  stability  are 
relegated  more  and  more  to  the  lower  nerve 
centres  so  that  effective  work  can  be  done  with 
less  attentive  control.  The  mind  is  free  to 
establish  new  co-ordinations,  or  to  think  out  new 
relationships.  It  does  not  follow  that  the  mind 
actually  will  do  either  of  these  things.  It  may 
become  lost  in  unprofitable  reverie,  or  engage 
in  carrying  out  a  train  of  thought  which  has  no 
bearing  at  all  upon  the  problem  in  hand.  But 
progressive  automatism  is  a  necessary,  though 
not  a  sufficient,  condition  of  improvement  ;  and 
progress  is  often  retarded  because  certain  funda- 
mental processes  have  not  been  sufficiently 
mechanized.  What  these  processes  are  will 
become  manifest  during  the  construction  of  some 
interesting  object.  As  far  as  possible  discipline 
should  be  secured  in  handwork,  as  in  headwork, 
by  the  solution  of  problems.  "  First  do  a 
thing  and  then  learn  how  to  do  it  "  is  on  the 
whole  a  sound  educational  maxim.  It  is  only 
when  a  pupil  has  tried  to  do  a  thing  that  he 
knows  what  he  wants  to  know,  or  knows  what 
specific  skill  he  must  possess  in  order  to  accom- 
plish his  aim.  Besides  the  original  problem,  how 
to  construct  a  certain  object,  there  has  arisen  in 
his  mind  a  subsidiary  problem  :  how  to  overcome 

14 


210    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

a  specific  difficulty.  After  a  little  practice  with 
a  certain  tool  in  constructing  a  model,  the  sub- 
sidiary problem  may  be  :  How  am  I  to  get  out 
of  this  tool  the  maximum  result  with  the  mini- 
mum effort?  This  is  a  legitimate  basis  for  an 
exercise  in  the  mere  manipulation  of  the  tool  in 
question.  But  this  problem  of  tool  manipulation 
is  not  the  one  that  first  presents  itself. 

The  vexed  question  of  mechanical  exercises  is 
often  obscured  and  complicated  by  a  Confusion  of 
aim.  There  are  two  distinct  issues. 

The  first  is  :  How  can  the  pupils  in  the 
shortest  time  and  with  the  least  expenditure  of 
energy  gain  a  complete  mastery  of  a  given  art? 
The  second  is  :  How  can  the  pupils'  interest  in 
this  art  be  so  maintained  and  so  utilized  as  to 
secure  to  them  the  greatest  intellectual  and  moral 
benefit?  In  the  first  case  the  teacher's  problem  is 
to  find  the  shortest  cut  to  a  definite  goal  ;  in  the 
second  case  the  problem  is  how  to  find  the  route 
which  will  compel  the  children  to  think  the  most. 
In  the  first,  skill  is  supreme,  ideas  subsidiary  ;  in 
the  second,  ideas  are  supreme  and  skill  sub- 
sidiary. In  the  first  case,  mechanical  drills 
would  enter  largely  into  the  course  ;  in  the 
second,  they  would  be  reduced  to  a  minimum. 
Even  in  the  first  case,  mechanical  exercises,  if  so 
frequent  or  prolonged  as  to  deaden  interest,  tend 
to  defeat  the  end  in  view.  For  unless  practice  is 
undertaken  with  zeal  and  with  a  genuine  desire 
to  improve  one's  record,  very  little  benefit 
accrues.  Practice  does  not  necessarily  mean 
improvement.  The  frequent  cases  in  which 


PLACE  OF  DRILLS  IN  MANUAL  EDUCATION      211 

handwriting  deteriorates  as  it  proceeds  down  the 
page  of  the  copybook  is  evidence  of  the  effect  of 
lack  of  interest  leading  to  lack  of  effort,  and  lack 
of  effort  leading  to  the  intrusion  of  inferior  co- 
ordinations. 

Bagley  in  discussing  habit-formation  empha- 
sises the  importance  of  complete  automatism. 
"  Unless  the  process  reaches  the  stage  of  auto- 
matism all  of  the  initial  repetitions  represent 
time  and  energy  practically  thrown  away."  x 
This  is  an  exaggerated  statement.  If  the  habit 
is  an  important  one,  then  it  probably  comes  into 
frequent  use  in  ordinary  life.  This  fact  in  itself 
provides  an  opportunity  for  practising  the  habit  ; 
and  the  previous  repetitions  have  given  rise  to  at 
least  some  degree  of  facilitation.  Moreover,  a 
habit,  as  the  term  is  generally  used,  comprises  a 
number  of  minor  automatisms,  and  these  are  in 
themselves  useful  when  they  enter  into  a  new 
combination  to  constitute  another  complex  habit. 

Important,  nay  essential,  as  is  the  formation 
of  good  habits  as  the  basis  of  all  training,  it  is 
well  to  remember  that  no  habit  is  got  gratuit- 
ously. The  price  that  has  to  be  paid  is  a  loss  of 
adaptability.  The  nervous  system  becomes  less 
plastic,  less  flexible.  All  habits  are  due  to  the 
establishment  of  new  pathways  of  discharge  in 
the  central  nervous  system.  There  is  almost 
certainly  an  actual  growth  in  the  neurones. 
Fibrils  of  communication  extended  in  a  specific 
direction  drain  off  a  previously  diffused  dis- 
charge, and  rob  other  parts  of  the  possibility 
1  "  Class-room  Management,"  p.  18. 


212    HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

of  exercise.  These  parts  tend  to  become  atro- 
phied and  less  ready  to  function.  But  a  change 
of  external  conditions  may  render  the  functioning 
of  these  weakened  parts  desirable.  It  will  thus 
be  seen  that  the  specialized  nerve  growth  by 
monopolizing  nutriment  and  exercise  has 
probably  caused  a  slight  deterioration  in  other 
elements  and  rendered  more  difficult  the  for- 
mation of  new  habits.  In  other  words,  there  has 
been  a  loss  of  flexibility.1  Bain  expresses  a 
somewhat  similar  view  with  regard  to  memory. 
In  dealing  with  the  classical  languages  he  says  : 
"  For  one  thing,  there  is  abundant  employment 
given  to  the  memory  ;  but  the  proper  word  for 
this  is  not  *  trained  '  but  *  expended.'  A  certain 
amount  of  the  plastic  force  of  the  system  is  used 
up,  and  is  therefore  not  available  for  other 
purposes.  This  is  the  cost  of  the  operation,  for 
which  we  have  to  show  an  equivalent  in  solid 
advantages.'*  2 

There  is,  in  fact,  something  to  be  said  for  the 
maxim  of  Rousseau  :  "  The  only  habit  which 
the  child  should  be  allowed  to  form  is  to  contract 
no  habit  what  ever.  "3  Although  it  is  manifestly 
impossible  to  carry  out  the  maxim  literally,  it 
serves  as  a  useful  warning  against  drilling  into 
children  a  number  of  fixed  and  rigid  habits  which 
are  of  too  limited  a  usefulness  to  justify  the  loss 
of  versatility  ;  and  which  might  prove  an 
obstruction  later  on. 

1  See  Dr.  Henderson's  "  Principles  of  Education,"  pp.  43 
and  153. 

2  "  Education  as  a  Science,"  p.  367.         3  "  Emile,"  Book  I. 


DIRECTED    HANDWORK   AND 
ORIGINAL    HANDWORK 

A  HANDWORK  lesson  may  be  conducted  in  two 
directly  opposed  ways — the  directed  and  the 
heuristic.  In  the  directed  method,  the  teacher 
guides  the  pupil  step  by  step.  He  gives  an 
order  and  waits  until  it  has  been  correctly 
obeyed  by  the  whole  class  before  he  proceeds 
to  give  another  order.  All  the  pupils  are  kept 
going  at  the  same  pace.  The  dexterous  are 
checked  :  the  clumsy  are  urged  on.  They  all 
do  precisely  what  they  are  told  and  no  more. 
There  is  no  experimentation,  and  little  oppor- 
tunity for  original  work.  The  results  at  the 
end  of  the  lesson  are  gratifying  to  the  teacher  ; 
but  the  main  aim  and  purpose  of  the  handwork 
lesson  have  been  missed.  The  pupils  have  made 
little  or  no  progress  in  constructive  power  ;  they 
have  not  enlarged  their  capacity  for  thinking 
out  constructive  problems  ;  they  have  not  even 
learnt  to  make  the  object.  Left  to  their  own 
resources  they  cannot  as  a  rule  repeat  the  pro- 
cesses they  have  just  gone  through.  The  various 
steps  were  not  guided  by  a  clearly  conceived 
personal  purpose  and  do  not,  therefore,  form  a 

rational  sequence.     If  the  mode  of  construction 

213, 


214      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

is  remembered  at  all  it  is  by  a  mere  mechanical 
adhesion  of  the  various  stages. 

The  evils  of  the  method  are  still  further  accen- 
tuated when  the  teacher  conceals  from  the 
children  the  nature  of  the  object  they  are  trying 
to  construct.  This  frequently  happens  in  taking 
paper-folding  exercises  with  young  children. 
The  children  are  given  various  directions,  and 
after  many  bendings  and  foldings,  behold,  a  boat 
emerges,  or  a  fan,  or  a  piece  of  miniature  furni- 
ture. The  children  are  supposed,  when  they  see 
the  final  result,  to  feel  a  pleasant  shock  of 
surprise.  But  to  surprise  the  children  is  not  the 
legitimate  end  of  the  handwork  lesson.  The 
main  purpose  of  the  handwork  lesson  is  to  make 
the  children  think  ;  and  no  one  can  think, 
in  the  strictest  sense  of  ithe  word,  unless 
there  is  a  definite  goal  towards  which  thought 
is  directed. 

To  the  extent,  therefore,  that  the  directed 
method  of  teaching  fails  to  cultivate  habits  which 
make  for  originality  and  resourcefulness,  must 
it  be  condemned. 

Contrast  with  this  the  heuristic  method — the 
method  of  original  discovery.  By  this  method 
the  completed  object  is  shown  to  the  pupils. 
They  are  allowed  to  do  what  they  like  with  it — 
look  at  it,  sketch  it,  measure  it,  or  pull  it  to 
pieces.  For  they  have  by  their  own  unaided 
efforts  to  construct  a  similar  object.  To  accom- 
plish this  intellectual  vigilance  is  indispensable. 
They  have  to  consider  alternatives,  to  make 
guesses  and  verify  them,  to  reject  the  unsuc- 


DIRECTED  AND  ORIGINAL  HANDWORK         215 

cessful  and  accept  the  successful.  In  other 
words,  they  have  to  reason,  to  experiment 
mentally  and  physically,  to  learn  on  the  highest 
level. 

The  directed  method  tends  to  make  a  boy 
dependent  on  others  ;  the  heuristic  method  tends 
to  make  him  dependent  on  himself.  The  former 
tends  to  produce  sailing  vessels  which  cannot 
move  until  they  are  driven  by  wind  or  current  ; 
the  latter  tends  to  produce  steamboats  which 
are  independent  of  wind  or  tide,  for  they  have 
their  motive  power  within  themselves. 

There  are  certain  objections  that  have  been 
urged  against  the  heuristic  method.  The  first  is 
that  the  results  are  bad.  If  the  results  refer  to 
an  external  product,  the  point  may  be  conceded  : 
the  results,  at  the  beginning,  are  inevitably  bad. 
Without  affording  the  pupil  an  opportunity  for 
going  wrong,  reasoning  on  his  part  is  impossible. 
The  only  occasion  when  a  blunder  is  not 
educative  is  when  it  remains  undetected  and 
unrectified.  But  in  handwork  there  is  little 
danger  of  a  serious  blunder  escaping  notice. 
As  a  rule  it  jumps  to  the  eye  :  it  stands  as  a 
palpable  barrier  on  the  road  to  a  destination 
which  the  pupil  is  eager  to  reach.  If  he  takes 
them  rightly  he  will  be  all  the  better  for  his 
mistakes  ;  for  each  mistake,  even  if  it  does 
nothing  else,  closes  up  for  him  one  of  the  many 
possible  avenues  of  error. 

But  even  from  the  point  of  view  of  external 
results,  in  the  long  run  the  second  method  will 
prove  the  better.  It  is,  indeed,  the  only  way  to 


216      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

produce  a  craftsman  who  is  not  only  skilful,  but 
thoughtful  and  ingenious  as  well.  The  superior 
potency  of  this  method  is  nowhere  more  manifest 
than  in  the  vast  improvement  that  has  taken 
place  in  drawing  in  the  elementary  schools 
during  the  last  few  years. 

To  the  objection  that  progress  is  slow,  it  may 
be  replied  that  all  development  that  ends  in  great 
things  is  necessarily  slow. 

The  really  serious  objection  to  the  free  use  of 
the  heuristic  method  arises  from'  a  consideration 
of  the  nature  of  originality.  It  is  evident  that 
originality  cannot  function  independently  of 
experience.  To  be  original  is  to  make  the  best 
use  of  what  resources  one  possesses  :  but  one 
must  have  resources  ;  and  these  resources  are 
largely  due  to  past  experience.  Ideas  of  possible 
ways  of  meeting  new  emergencies  are  indis- 
pensable for  originality,  and  these  ideas  do  not 
arise  ex  nihilo.  Royce  contends  that  initiative,  or 
originality,  consists  in  nothing  more  than  m£re 
persistence  in  experimentation,  in  calling  up  one's 
resources  and  stubbornly  testing  them  as  a 
means  towards  the  solution  of  the  problem  in 
hand.  Professor  Henderson  regards  originality 
as  an  "  attitude  "  the  operation  of  which  is  at 
least  partly  dependent  on  one's  mental  contents. 
Before,  therefore,  the  teacher  should  require  his 
pupils  to  attack  a  constructive  problem  by  them- 
selves he  should  be  sure  that  they  have  a  sufficient 
acquaintance  with  similar  cases  or  similar 
methods  to  render  the  solution  possible.  Much 
valuable  time  may  be  wasted  in  trying  to  get 


DIRECTED  AND  ORIGINAL  HANDWORK       217 

pupils  to  perform  tasks,  towards  the  accom- 
plishment of  which  they  do  not  possess  the 
essential  ideas.  The  heuristic  method,  in  fact, 
requires  to  be  seasoned  with  a  considerable 
amount  of  common  sense. 


RESUME 

THE  rapid  extension  of  manual  and  other  motor 
activities  in  our  schools  calls  for  a  critical 
examination  of  their  educational  value  and  the 
formulation  of  principles  which  would  serve  to 
guide  them  into  the  most  profitable  channels. 

The  fundamental  biological  conception  of  life 
— and  by  implication  of  education — as  interaction 
between  organism  and  environment  ;  the  physio- 
logical conception  of  the  brain  as  a  means  of 
controlling  the  body  ;  the  discovery  of  sensory 
and  motor  localization  in  the  cortex  ;  the  theory 
that  the  reflex  arc  is  the  basic  type  of  all  neural 
activity,  and  in  its  higher  and  more  complex 
form,  the  physical  correlate  of  consciousness  ; 
— all  serve  to  emphasize  the  importance  of  the 
motor  factor  in  the  development  of  individual 
experience.  The  sensory-motor  reaction  comes 
to  be  regarded  as  the  starting-point  of  the  educa- 
tive process,  and  the  development  of  the  mind 
of  man  as  capable  of  being  expressed  in  terms 
of  the  development  of  his  instincts. 

In  the  purely  psychical  realm  the  contribution 
of  the  kinaesthetic  sense  to  the  mental  contents 
— both  as  sensations  and  (probably)  as  images — 

is  not  only  large  but  indispensable  ;   for  it  seems 

•it 


RESUME  219 

to  be  an  inseparable  element  in  all  mental 
processes.  The  growth  and  elaboration  of 
mental  systems  in  the  life-history  of  the  indi- 
vidual could  not  have  taken  place  without  bodily 
movement,  nor  could  their  defmiteness  and 
integrity  be  maintained  without  expressive  reac- 
tions. It  is,  indeed,  a  tenable  theory  that  the 
meaning  of  an  idea  or  percept  resides  solely 
in  the  kinaesthetic  constituent. 

There  are  grounds  for  thinking  that  motor 
activities,  if  not  of  too  violent  a  nature,  favour 
cerebration  by  providing  a  healthy  degree  of 
sense-stimulation. 

The  motor  factor  is  no  less  important  in  the 
emotional  and  volitional  realm  than  in  the 
intellectual,  for  a  not  insignificant  part  of  an 
emotion  has  its  root  in  somatic  movements  ; 
and  will  cannot  manifest  itself  apart  from 
muscular  action. 

In  considering  the  relation  between  motor  and 
mental  development  we  are  led  to  conclude  that 
mental  growth  takes  place  when  new  adjust- 
ments give  rise  to  new  connections  in  the  nervous 
system  ;  and  as  these  adjustments  are  in  early 
life  mainly  motor,  it  follows  that  there  is  in  the 
young  child  a  close  connection  between  mental 
and  motor  efficiency.  As  he  gets  older,  there 
takes  place  at  least  a  partial  transfer  of  the 
readjusting  activity  from  the  motor  to  the  mental 
realm,  and  the  connection  between  the  two  forms 
of  efficiency  becomes  less  marked.  These  con- 
clusions are  confirmed  by  an  investigation  into 
the  correlation  between  intelligence  and  hand- 


220      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

work  in  elementary  schools,  and  are  indeed  well 
supported  by  the  casual  observations  of  ordinary 
life. 

The  method  by  which  motor  skill  is  acquired 
often  serves  as  an  index  of  the  mental  signi- 
ficance of  the  acquisition.  If,  for  instance, 
reason  has  played  an  important  part  in  the 
learning  of  a  purposive  movement,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  mind  is  more  profoundly  modified  than 
if  the  act  had  been  learnt  by  the  method  of  trial 
and  error. 

Muscular  development  proceeds  as  a  rule  from 
the  fundamental  muscles  to  the  accessory. 

Play  as  a  rudimentary  "form  of  certain 
instinctive  activities  constitutes  an  almost  indis- 
pensable factor  in  early  education.  It  should 
be  so  utilized  as  to  develop  organized  systems 
of  ideas  (probably  its  main  function  in  the 
infant  school),  and  to  foster  the  formation  of 
habits  which  are  socially  serviceable.  From  the 
play  attitude  should  gradually  emerge  the  work 
attitude. 

Handwork  is,  however,  the  main  medium  of 
motor  training  adopted  by  the  teacher.  Its 
inclusion  in  the  school  curriculum  is  justified  on 
social  and  utilitarian  grounds,  on  the  ground  that 
impression  and  expression  should  always  go 
together,  and  on  the  ground  that  children  are 
instinctively  interested  in  manual  occupations. 
Manual  pursuits  provide  a  fruitful  source  of 
concrete  problems  which  make  an  effective  intel- 
lectual appeal  to  young  children.  Such  experi- 
mental evidence  as  we  possess  of  the  value  of 


RESUME  221 

handwork  as  a  means  of  general  culture  needs 
to  be  extended  and  placed  on  a  basis  more 
stringently  scientific.  There  arises,  however, 
from  the  experience  of  elementary  schools  during 
the  last  twenty  years  a  mass  of  facts  sufficiently, 
large  and  varied  to  point  clearly  to  the  beneficial 
influence  of  handwork  over  both  character  and 
intellect.  An  attempt  to  explain  the  nature  and 
extent  of  this  influence  raises  the  controversial 
question  of  formal  discipline.  Accepting  the 
limitations  fixed  by  the  general  rule  that  ability 
acquired  in  one  set  of  circumstances  is  available 
for  use  in  another  set  of  circumstances  in  pro- 
portion as  the  second  set  resembles  the  first,  we 
conclude  that  the  natural  aptitude  of  the  pupil 
for  acquiring  skill  is  not  increased  by  any  specific 
exercise  in  handwork,  but  that  the  habits,  both 
mental  and  physical,  which  are  acquired  during 
the  specific  exercise  may  be  rendered  available 
for  use  in  other  fields  of  activity.  The  habits 
involved  in  widely  applicable  modes  of  pro- 
cedure are  specially  valuable  by  virtue  of  their 
generality. 

Although  handwork  is  to  a  certain  extent  an 
indirect  means  of  education,  it  differs  from  the 
traditional  classical  course  for  which  similar 
claims  have  been  made  in  presenting  to  the  child 
real  problems,  and  in  serving  as  a  direct  pre- 
paration for  the  vocations  and  avocations  of  the 
majority  of  adult  mankind. 

As  the  child  grows  older  the  manual  occupa- 
tions, having  largely  served  their  purpose,  should 
be  gradually  superseded  by  activities  more  ex- 


222      HANDWORK  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  MEDIUM 

clusively  mental.  There  should  be  a  gradual 
shifting  of  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  school 
curriculum  from  the  hand  to  the  tongue — from 
the  practical  to  the  academic. 

The  social  significance  of  the  manual  training 
movement  becomes  evident  when  we  consider  the 
dependence  of  civilization  on  the  arts,  crafts, 
and  industries.  The  manual  work  of  the  school 
affords  an  opportunity  for  the  cultivation  of 
social  virtues,  and  may  be  so  taught  as  to  give  an 
insight  into  the  fundamental  conditions  of  human 
society. 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  introduce  ambi- 
dextrous drawing  into  the  schools,  and  to  en- 
courage the  interchangeable  use  of  the  hands 
in  all  manual  work.  These  attempts  are  ill- 
advised  ;  for  not  only  is  the  cultivation  of  ambi- 
dexterity opposed  to  the  natural  trend  of  evolu- 
tion, but  there  are  cogent  reasons  for  thinking 
that  interference  with  the  natural  unidexterity 
of  a  child  tends  to  disorganize  the  function  of 
speech.  I  have  given  statistics  which  point  to 
an  attempt  to  change  natural  dextrality  as  con- 
stituting one  of  the  contributory  causes  of 
stammering. 

Before  dealing  with  the  methodology  of  hand- 
work it  is  well  to  state  that  the  aim  which  the 
teacher  of  the  subject  should  have  in  view  is  the 
cultivation  of  certain  habits  of  mind  and  body 
which  have  a  wide  range  of  usefulness.  The 
training  of  the  hand  should  be  used  as  a  means 
of  training  the  mind. 

To  the  question  whether  handwork  is  a  sub- 


RESUME  223 

ject  or  a  method,  the  reply  is  that  it  is  both. 
It  is  a  subject  inasmuch  as  it  has  definite 
claims  of  its  own  for  a  place  in  the  school  time- 
table, and  it  is  a  method  inasmuch  as  it  is  a 
means  of  acquiring,  amplifying,  clarifying,  and 
suggesting  knowledge  about  other  subjects. 

An  arrangement  of  handwork  exercises  in  what 
seems  to  be  the  most  logical  and  systematic  form 
is  not  as  a  rule  the  best  arrangement  for  teach- 
ing purposes,  since  it  does  not  represent  the 
order  in  which  the  young  pupil's  interests 
naturally  develop . 

The  place  of  formal  exercises,  or  "  drills,"  in 
manual  education  can  only  be  determined  by 
adjusting  the  conflicting  claims  of  habituation 
and  accommodation.  In  the  first  place,  practice 
is  necessary  in  order  to  produce  that  cumulative 
automatism  upon  which  all  progress  depends  ; 
and  in  the  second  place  practice  may,  by 
deadening  interest  and  by  reducing  the  general 
plasticity  of  the  nervous  system,  hinder  the  full 
development  of  the  pupil's  powers.  It  is  im- 
portant that  all  disciplinary  exercises  should  be 
invested  with  meaning  for  the  pupil— should  be 
regarded  by  him  as  an  essential  means  to  a 
desired  end. 

During  the  handwork  lesson  too  much 
guidance  by  the  teacher  should  be  avoided  ; 
for  if  the  highest  educational  benefit  is  to  be 
secured,  the  pupil  should  as  far  as  possible 
solve  his  own  difficulties,  and  should  be  given 
ample  opportunities  of  exercising  what  initiative 
and  originality  he  happens  to  possess. 


INDEX 


ACCESSORY  muscles,  86-87 
Accuracy,  81,  115 
Alexander,  Prof.,  referred  to,  29 
Allen,  Grant,  on  primitive  man, 

141  ;  quoted,  145 
Ambidexterity,  135-175 
Ambidextral  Culture  Society,  136, 

137,  170 

drawing,  136, 171 
„  writing,  172-173 

Angell  on  sensori-motor  reaction, 
29 

Animal  psychology,  73,  75 

Arithmetic,  127 

Arnold,  Matthew,  quoted,  146 

Attention,  its  connection  with 
motor  sensations,  39 ;  with 
will,  64-65 ;  with  automatism, 
71  ;  training  of,  112-113 

Attitudes,  89,  117-119 

Automatic  movements,  40,  56,  57, 
71,  109,  no,  193-212  passim 

Ayres,  E.  A.,  on  brain  of  catfish, 
35 

BACON,  quoted,  173 
Baden-Powell  referred  to,  137 
Bagley    referred    to,     no  ;     on 

habits,  115,  116,  117,  221 
Bain  on  attention,  39  ;  on  habit, 

206  ;  on  memory,  212 


Baldwin  on  attitudes,  118  ;  on 
right-handedness,  138 ;  on  ac- 
commodation, 207 

Bawden,  H.  H.,  on  sensory  and 
motor,  26,  43,  45,  46 

Behaviour,  psychology  the  science 

of,  15 

Benjamite  slingers,  142 

Bergson  on  motor  adjustment, 
51-52 

Berkeley's  theory  of  vision,  49 

Binet  referred  to,  96 

Bolton,  Prof.,  on  meaning,  51 

Book,  W.  F.,  on  economic  learn- 
ing, 200-201 

Book-learning,  12-13,  126-130 

Bosanquet  referred  to,  52  ;  quoted, 
82 

Bradley  referred  to,  52 

Bridgman,  Laura,  referred  to,  55 

Broca  referred  to,  19 

Burt,  Cyril,  on  motor  ability,  78 

CAMPBELL,  A.  W.,  quoted,  35 

Carlyle  on  heroes,  83 

Carroll,  Lewis,  referred  to,  81 

Cerebral  energy,  83-85 

Child  study,  12,  66-67 

Colvin,  Stephen  S.,  on  motor 
images,  43,  44  ;  on  motor  sensa- 
tions, 54 

225 


226 


INDEX 


Comenius  referred  to,  12 
Conradi,  Edward,  on  stammering, 

158 

Conation,  27 

Corporal    punishment,    effect    of 

handwork  on,  104-106 
Correlation  of  motor  and  mental, 

76-79 

Cortical  cells,  21-22  ;  age  of,  35 
Crichton-Brown  on  ambidexterity, 

167,  174 

DEVELOPMENT,  motor  and  mental, 
66-85 

Dewey  on  the  reflex  arc,  29-31  ; 
on  acquired  meaning,  48,  49, 
50 ;  on  child  psychology,  67  ; 
on  infantile  thought,  74 ;  on 
play,  88 ;  on  attitudes,  118 ; 
on  formal  training,  123  ;  on 
social  education,  134  ;  on  logical 
and  psychological,  185;  Dewey 's 
experimental  school,  183 

Disciplinary  exercises,  197-212 

Drawing,  79,  188-190 

Drill,  117,  193-212 

EGO,  the,  60-61 
Emotions,  58-60 
Evolution,  147 
Experimentation,  73 
Expression,  126,  127 
Eye,  motor  adjustments  of,  36, 37, 
39  ;  training  of,  114 

FARM,  education  on,  132-133 
Feelings,  control  of,  58-60 
Flechsig,  on  sensory  and  motor, 

23 
Formal    training,    106,    108-119, 

122-125 

Froebel  referred  to,  12 
Froebelians,  5 
Fundamental  muscles,  86-87 


GALTON  on  imagery,  56 
Games,  92-94 

Gorst,  Sir  John,  quoted,|99~ioi 
Gould,  G.  M.,  on  left-handedness, 

156  ;  on  dextrocularity,  159 
Grammar,  120 
Groos's  theory  of  Jplay,  89-90 

HABITS,  70,  108-113, 119, 193-212 
passim 

Henderson,  Prof.,  on  play,  89  ;  on 
neatness,  116  ;  on  attitudes, 
118,  119 ;  on  formal  discipline, 
124  ;  on  habit,  212 

Herbartians,  117 

Heuristic  method,  213-217 

Hicks,  Dawes,  on  motor  sensa- 
tions, 37  (footnote) 

Hoeifner  on  stuttering,  169  (foot- 
note) 

Holman,  H.,  referred  to,  181 
(footnote) 

IMITATION,  73, 75 

Inhibition,  63-64 

Innervation,  28 

Instincts,  69,  70,  no,  in  ;  de- 
velopment of,  121 

Instrumental  handwork,  181-183 

Intelligence,  76,  78,  79,82-85,  195, 
196 

Interest,  203-205 

JACKSON,  JOHN,  on  ambidexterity, 

138 

James,  Wm. ,  on  the  reflex  arc,  30  ; 
on  will,  60  etseq. ;  on  old  fogey- 
ism,  70  ;  on  memory,  108,  115  ; 
on  training  attention,  112  ;  on 
habit,  206 

James-Lange  theory  of  emotion,  58 

Jowett  quoted,  135 

Judd's  doctrine  of  attitudes,  28, 
118 


INDEX 


227 


KELLER,  HELEN,  referred  to,  55 
Kenny,  E.  J.,  referred  to,  7 
Kinaesthetic,  see  Motor 
Kindergarten,  177-180 
Kirkpatrick  on  manual  training, 

120 

Kirschensteiner  referred  to,  100 
Knitting,  70 

LANDSEER  referred  to,  137 
Lange  on  attention,  39  ;  on  ima- 
gination, 51 

Language,  80,  95-98,  126, 156-158 
Latin  compared  with  handwork, 

124-125 

Lazarus  on  play,  90 
Learning,  three  methods  of,  73- 

76  ;  by  doing,  103-104  ;  by  rote, 

199 

Left-handedness,  135-175  passim 
Leonardo  da  Vinci  referred  to, 

174 
Lewis,  E.  O.,  referred  to,  7,  37 

(footnote) 
Lincoln,    Abraham,    referred  to, 

146 

Livingstone  referred  to,  140 
Localization  of    function  in  the 

brain,  17-23,  33 
Logical  order,  184-192 
Lombroso  referred  to,  137 

McDoUGALL  on  synapses,  22  ; 
on  consciousness,  72  ;  on  in- 
stinct, no 

Make-believe,  90-92 

Montessorian  doctrines,  5,  41 

Meaning,  43,  47-49,  55-56 

Method  of  teaching,  107 

Meumann  on  memory,  115 

Meynert  referred  to,  21 

Motor  ability  correlated  with 
mental,  76-80 

Motor  images,  43-57  ;  compared 


with  motor  sensations,  44-45  ; 
necessary  to  volition,  63 

Motor  sensations,  32-42  ;  the  ori- 
ginal sense,  34-36  ;  accompany 
activities  in  other  senses,  36-38  ,* 
give  feeling  of  reality,  38-39  ; 
connected  with  attention,  39-40 

Motive,  201-203 

Mott,  F.  W.,  on  ambidexterity, 
142 

Movement  necessary  for  sensa- 
tion, 38 

NAKED  thought,  43,  46-47 
Nature,  146-147 
Nature  teaches,  13 
Neatness,  115-116 
Needlework,  190-191 
Nickal,  John,  referred  to,  7 
Nunn,    T.    Percy,    on    types    of 
handwork,  181  (footnote) 

ORIGINALITY,  216 

PAUL,  SAINT,  quoted,  60 
Pestalozzi  referred  to,  12 
Phrenology,  17-19 
Pillsbury  on  image  and  meaning, 

55 

Play,  88-94 

Plato  on  ambidexterity,  135 

Pragmatism,  48-49,  52 

Problems,  119,  120 

Procedure,  methods  of,  in,  112 

Psychology,     comparative,     16  ; 

genetic,  16  ;  introspective,  14 
Psychological  order,  184-192 
Poe,  E.  A.,  referred  to,  173 

RAYMONT,  T.,  on  woodwork,  187 
Reade,     Charles,    on     ambidex- 
terity, 136,  145 

Realists,  Manchester  School  of,  29 
Reality,  feeling  of,  38-39 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


APR    141936 


LD  21-100m-7,'33 


331079 


\ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


